


flip from the future

by laurabeth



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Chaptered, Coran/Alfor/Allura's mom, Cuddling & Snuggling, Falling In Love, First Kiss, Fluff, Gay Keith (Voltron), Gay Shiro (Voltron), Getting Together, Keith and Lance are parents, Love Confessions, M/M, Teasing, Time Travel, background but it is mentioned, broganes, can i get a hell yeah, future kid comes and Shakes Things Up, lance going to shiro for advice on sexuality, spa nights
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-24
Updated: 2018-08-07
Packaged: 2019-06-15 19:46:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15420264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laurabeth/pseuds/laurabeth
Summary: Celeste had been having a normal day, until her entire world flipped upside down. Literally. She ended up in the past, surrounded by a younger version of team Voltron. Most shocking, her parents weren't together. How will she be able to fix this, without spilling all of the future’s secrets?





	1. flipping out

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first chaptered fic! I already have over half of this written, so don't worry about it being abandoned. I don't know how often I will be updating, but I will probably update every week or so. Enjoy! 
> 
> tumblr: vld-pilots

Celeste had been having a completely normal day, or as normal of a day that you could have on a giant flying spaceship hundred of thousands miles away from Earth. It had been normal until her life had been completely flipped upside down. Literally. The whole castle had flipped upside down and then right again. Nothing had seemed array, no alarms were blaring. It was just her, still in the hallway. She felt fine, just a little motion sick from the sudden flip, but other than that she didn’t feel off. Celeste hadn’t grown another head and hadn’t found herself glued to the floor. It didn’t seem like they were under attack. Everything was fine. Until she walked into the dining hall. That’s when things had started to get weird. 

For one thing, Pidge was so tiny. Yes, she was a smaller person in general, but oh my god, she was had basically shrunken half her size. And her hair was short! Pidge’s hair was supposed to be at her waist, and it was always pulled back. This Pidge had shaggy hair like her older brother. What had happened? Hunk looked different too, albeit not as different as Pidge. His hair was also shorter, but not as drastically as Pidge’s. His hair came to rest past his eyebrows instead of above his shoulders. They both looked like themselves in old photos, closer to the beginning of Voltron. But it couldn’t be. Seriously, what was going on? Celeste quickly turned around and headed back towards the training room. She had just finished practicing with Shiro there, but something told her that she probably wouldn’t find him there. 

Celeste entered the training room. It really didn’t look any different than it did now. But the training bots were old models, her and her siblings were used to models with many new functions and attacks. Pidge and Hunk loved to update them with new challenges for fun, and it was good practice for them to be taken surprise by new battle tactics. Her gaze moved to the only occupants in the room, two paladins training, her eyes going wide when she realized it was her parents. They were supposed to be on a supply run.

Her papà was kneeling with his right arm supported by his right leg as it held his sniper, his gaze intensely focused on his targets. Her dad was ducking under bots’ arms and then quickly shifted his balance onto his left leg, using his right to kick the training bot down. He quickly gained his balance, running past the bot and extending his arm out so that his knife caught the metal of the bot, cutting it open and dismantling it as he ran past. Her focus shifted back her to her papà and watched as he shot the last remaining training bots before they even came close to Keith. Once all the bots were demolished, Lance stood, walking towards Keith. She couldn’t hear what they were saying from where she was but she saw them quickly hug. Her dad’s face flushed and Celeste snickered. Her dad rarely blushed around her papà anymore. It was kind of sweet. 

Now that they weren’t moving as rapidly, Celeste noticed the differences that she noticed on the other paladins. They looked younger, they were shorter and slimmer, and their hairstyles were different. Her dad’s hair was shorter and much more shaggier than it was now. He usually just wore it in a ponytail or bun, especially when they were on missions. Some days, if her papà was sad, her dad would let him braid his hair. But now it was short and shaggy, just like it was in old photos and videos that her parents often showed her. Her papà was another story. His hair was supposed to be curly, she had only ever known it as super curly, her brown curls were because of her papà. This Lance’s hair was not curly, it was too closely cropped for that right now. She knew his hair as curly and long on top, buzzed on the sides and back. He looked a lot younger with his hair like this, a lot less serious. 

Her papà was a goofy guy, but he was also incredibly driven and serious. Both of her parents were. Everyone on the castle had to be, they were caught up in a war that would not hesitate to kill them. But Celeste couldn’t forget how younger both of her parents looked in this moment. They looked like they were probably close to her age. The only possible explanation was that she had traveled back in time. 

Celeste stepped back into the shadows, trying to not be seen. If she ran now she could probably make it to the royal chambers, which she knew were unused. She could probably hide there for a few days and work during the nights. Celeste wasn’t a genius by any means, but she could probably figure something out. If she became desperate enough, she could always seek out Hunk. He probably wouldn’t tell on her. Maybe he would bake her cookies if she looked dejected enough. Her parents were cleaning up now, buying her time to get away. She needed to stay hidden - she couldn’t mess anything up! Her parents never told her anything about this happening, she had to continue to remain unseen and figure this out on her own. Celeste started to shuffle back the way she came, stilling the minute her shoe made a noise against the ground. 

“Hey,” Keith said, staring out the doorway. “Who’s there?” 

Celeste swiftly pressed herself against the wall, desperately trying to hide from their sight. Her breathing hastened as she tried to keep it under control. Would they be able to hear her breathing? The thought just made her breathe faster and she silently cursed human lungs for needing so much air, especially in moments of suspense. 

“Seriously,” Lance said with a joking tone in his voice. “Is anyone out there? Pidge, is that you? Your last pranks weren’t funny. Hunk, you better not be helping her.” 

Thank God, they hadn’t seen her yet. Just heard her. There was still enough time for her to get away. She started to slowly step further down the hallway. Celeste kept her footing light and tried to keep her shoes from squeaking against the steel floors of the castle. She was successful until her fourth step. A loud squeeeeeak sounded through the air. Celeste froze.

“Guys, this isn’t funny anymore,” Lance cautioned, his voice undertaking a more serious tone. “Come out. Me and Keith are getting worried.” 

‘Fuck,’ She thought, still frozen. Did she dare to take another step? She wouldn’t be able to get away, that much was clear. What would she do if they were an enemy she was trying to evade? How could she work her way out of this problem? 

Keith spoke up this time, his voice low and dangerous. Celeste had heard it a few times before, usually when he was preparing himself for an attack. ‘Fuck,’ She thought again. “Whoever’s out there, come out now. This isn’t a game.” 

She peeled herself off the wall, raising her hands above her head. It was time to make herself seem as innocent and as small as possible. Celeste allowed herself to truly feel all the panic that she had been storing away. She called upon the hopeless thoughts, it all bubbling to the surface of her emotions. If there was one thing Celeste was brilliant at, it was being dramatic and showing people how she felt, something she had inherited from her papà. She would show her parents how distraught and scared she was, make them pity her. They wouldn’t shoot a scared, helpless, teenage girl. At least, not the Keith and Lance that she knew. Not her parents.

Celeste slowly stepped around the corner, coming into full sight. Tears were welling in her eyes, her lower lip trembling. It was an act that she had rehearsed so many times, had performed in front of countless people. A crying girl always came in helpful when she was trying to get out of things. Never before had it been so easy to cry for an audience. 

Keith and Lance’s faces turned from ones of surprise to confusion. Keith’s final expression was cold. He set his mouth in stone and his eyes narrowed. It was the face that he often went to when he was trying to hide how he truly felt. If Celeste guessed, she would say that he was hiding shock. She looked a lot like her dad, despite her golden curls, everyone knew that. She worried that he could have picked up on that. Lance’s appearance continued to be one of confusion. He rarely paraded his thoughts on his face. She knew that he must really be confused and astonished. 

“Who are you?” Keith asked. He scanned her up and down, probably looking for weapons. “How did you get on this ship?” 

She tried to speak clearly, not wanting her voice to waver like it usually did when she was close to crying. “My name is Celeste. I don’t know how I got here, my world flipped upside down and then I was here.” She conveniently left out the fact that she was from the future. Maybe that wouldn’t have to come up. 

“Do you have any weapons?” Keith questioned, voice gruffer. Celeste shook her head. “How do I know your not lying?” He stepped closer to her, raising his bayard. Celeste whimpered, automatically stepping back. Her father would never hurt her, but this was not her father, not yet. This was a young man her age, one who was still growing into the person that would eventually become her dad. Celeste couldn’t trust his actions too much. 

Stepping forward, Lance extended his arm in front of Keith’s body. “Keith,” He muttered. “You’re scaring her.” Lance then placed his bayard on the ground before stepping towards her. “My name’s Lance, that’s Keith over there. We’re not going to hurt you, promise. Do you have any idea how a pretty thing like yourself ended up here?” 

He was hitting on her. Honest to God, hitting on her. Growing up she had heard the stories, but actually seeing it happen was weird. Having it happen to her was even weirder. But nevertheless, she shook her head again. She couldn’t wait to tell her papà about this, he would groan and her dad would certainly bring it up for weeks. 

“Okay,” Lance stepped a bit closer to her. “How about we find Pidge, she’s the genius on this ship, believe it or not, and then we can find out what happened. Does that sound okay?” 

Celeste nodded her head, dropping her arms to her sides and slowly wrapping them around herself. Keith still looked hesitant to be helping her, much less leading her around the ship, but he went along with Lance. 

Lance and Keith shared a look. Celeste had been their daughter for long enough to know that a solid thirty percent of their conversations happen through looks. Papà always claimed that it was because they were so in love that their brains formed a mental connection, allowing them to share whatever they needed. Her dad would then scoff and roll his eyes, sending Celeste a silent look of his own that said more than enough. Then her dad would fondly kiss his husband’s cheek, usually telling Lance how ridiculous he was being and a “Stop, you know that’s not a real thing.”

They lead her to the kitchen, right where she had seen Pidge before running to the training room. Maybe it would have been smarter for her to stay in the kitchen. Or maybe she should have just shut herself in a room and waited until the night cycle to start poking around and trying to find answers. 

“Pidgeon,” Lance announced. Celeste tried to hide her snicker at Pidge’s face. She was glad to know that some things never change, like Lance’s incessant teasing and nicknames. “We need your help.” 

Pidge looked up from her laptop, eyes widening when she noticed Celeste. “What did you do? How did they get in here?”

“Hey,” Lance said, sounding hurt at the accusation. “We didn’t do anything and the fact that you would even assume something like that is very hurtful-”

“She just showed up,” Keith interrupted. “Her name is Celeste and she doesn’t know how she got here either. It’s a mystery.” 

“Keith, she looks a lot like you,” Pidge commented. Celeste shifted uncomfortably. If anyone figured this out it would be Pidge. She knew everything. Everything. 

“I noticed,” He agreed, Lance sputtering behind him. 

“She does not!” contradicted Lance. “Celeste is pretty and cute, Keith isn’t!” 

Keith rolled his eyes, pointedly ignoring Lance’s comments. “We figured you would be able to help us.” 

“No problem,” Pidge said, scrubbing at her eyes before turning her attention solely on Celeste. “Let’s figure this out.”


	2. she's from where now?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is here! I don't think I'll have an actual updating schedule, just know that I am really trying to have this finished before season 7 comes out! I'm really sorry if this chapter seems a little weirdly written or awkward in some places. I swear I'm working on my skills, I just need more practice. Which is kind of the point of writing more, lol.

Celeste followed them all to the medbay, bringing up the rear of the group. The rest of the team was going to met them there. Pidge had contacted them, giving them a run down of the situation that had happened. It was decided that they should all be present, especially Allura and Coran. Through all of this, Celeste was trying to stay calm. She knew that none of them would hurt her and the tests probably wouldn’t be that intrusive, but she didn’t know what was going to happen or how she was going to get back to her own time. She was a very anxious person by nature. It was weird to be surrounded by the people she trusted with her life and to not feel that same trust. It was frightening and she hoped she would be back in her own time soon. Celeste just wanted her dads and her sisters. They had faced everything together, but now she was all alone. 

Once they reached the medbay Celeste was instructed to sit in one of the check-up chairs. Coran was already standing by one, smiling gently at her. He was always one of the best people to go to when she was feeling down, as well as Hunk. They both cared for her as if she was their own daughter and Celeste knew that Coran would take care of her, even though he had no clue who she really was. He was a prominent part of her childhood, always telling her embellished stories of Altean culture before she would go to bed. Whenever she needed comfort, Coran was the first to help her. She smiled at him as she sat down, trying not to fidget too much in the chair. Everything would probably be revealed in a few moments. She didn’t know what that might mean for their future, or her own. Hopefully, the team would be able to help her back to her own time without messing up their own futures too much in the process.

Celeste placed both her arms on the armrests, silently telling Coran that she was ready to be hooked up to whatever they needed. While he was attaching her to various machines, Celeste glanced around the medical bay. It all looked so different. The tech was outdated. Pidge and Coran had worked on many modifications to make the healing pods more efficient than ever before. Her papà had also put glitter on a few of them. These cryopods just looked sad and old, and very glitter-less. Celeste remembered how she had been scared of the cryopods when she was little so her papà put glitter on them to make them seem more welcoming.

“Those are healing pods,” Hunk explained as he caught her looking around, assuming that he was answering her unasked question. “They help heal severe injuries quickly.” 

And like an idiot, Celeste answered without thinking. “Oh, I know.” 

Allura looked at her curiously, coming to stand nearer to her. “How do you know of them? These cryopods are specific to Alteans, when have you seen them? 

“Uh. . .” Celeste stammered, trying to think quickly on her feet. “My family uses them?” 

Allura eyes narrowed. “Are you an alien?” Fuck. How does she answer that? Or better yet, how does she get around that question? Technically, everyone was an alien, was that a good enough answer? No, it may just sound suspicious. But she didn’t have any other options and taking too long to answer would just arose mor suspicion.

“Define alien?” Celeste questions, pulse quickening. Even better, her heartbeat was shown on a screen, projecting her rapid pulse to literally everyone. If she wasn’t suspicious beforehand, she certainly was now. 

“Are you human?” Shiro stepped in, clearly interested in what species Celeste was. She definitely looked human, but so did a lot of other species, her hair a golden brown and her skin a dark tan. Her eyes were a mixture of her parents’ - a deep blue with hints of violet. 

“Mostly,” She admitted, ducking her head behind her curtain of hair. She should’ve braided it earlier this morning. Usually, she waited until training to put it up but now she didn’t have any hair ties on her. Maybe she could steal some from Allura, as she was the only one with long hair in this time. Whenever she was out of hair ties she just had to sneak into her parents’ bathroom and steal her dad’s. 

“What other species are you?” Shiro questioned. “Do you know?”

“I’m a little bit Galra. My dad is less than half, which is why he looks a lot more human than Galra. So I look mostly human,” She explained, trying not to look at Keith while explaining. 

Coran continued to check her vitals, humming and tapping at his tablet as she talked. “When is your birthday?” He asked, sending her a bright smile. He looked the least confused right now, which was very comforting. “I need it for your vital chart sp we have a record of you and your vitals.” 

“September 14th, 3002,” She replied, knowing that her secret was out. 

“3002?” Coran questioned, raising an eyebrow. “Are you sure?” Celeste nodded. 

“But it’s only 2996,” Hunk said slowly, staring at Celeste. “You can’t be born in the future unless you’re - oh wait!” 

“She’s from the future?” Lance questioned, eyes wide, his face shocked. He glanced from Celeste to Allura, clearly wondering if this was a normal alien thing that they just hadn’t heard of yet.

Pidge started thinking out loud. “That must have been why you mysteriously ended up on the castle!” She exclaimed. “Where were you before you ended up here?” 

“I was walking towards the kitchen for breakfast,” Celeste told her. 

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Allura asked, clearly a little upset with her. Celeste hated disappointing Allura, it was like she had disappointed her fairy godmother or something. She couldn’t stand doing that to her. But Celeste had had to. She didn’t know how anyone was going to react. 

“I didn’t know what to do!” She cried, trying to keep herself somewhat together. “I was afraid you would think that I was crazy or something! I didn’t want to make things worse for myself.” 

“Don’t worry, Celeste,” Coran said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “We understand.” Celeste sniffled, trying not to cry in front of the entire team. Not a very good first impression, if you asked her.

“Yes,” Allura agreed, clearly trying to help her feel better. “You didn’t know what to expect from us. You did the best you could in your situation, I would have done something very similar if I had needed to.” 

Hearing that from Allura helped to quell her anxiety. No one had blamed her for hiding. Celeste leaned back in the exam chair, trying to take deep and soothing breaths. Keith and Lance exchanged glances once again, Pidge muttered something under her breath to Hunk. Shiro came to stand closer to her, stopping right next to Allura. “I promise you that none of us will hurt you,” He assure her. “We want you to get back to your own time just as much as you do.” 

Celeste nodded her head, trying to keep tears at bay, she felt so overwhelmed. Hearing those words helped to calm her down. The team would do their best to help her, she knew that. But hearing it helped to make it more real for her. Certainly, she would get back to her family. Her parents would probably reprimand her for something that wasn’t even her fault but she was already looking forward to hearing their voices again. Keith and Lance’s voices were to high-pitched here. Her papà’s voice had gotten rougher over the years, her dad’s had gotten more deep. Their young adult voices were no match for how they sounded in her time. But she could always tease them for how they sounded when she got back. That was just one more reason she bust her ass to get back. 

“Wait a minute,” Coran said, interrupting her thoughts and successfully grabbing everyone’s attention again.. “Your DNA. . .” He looked up at her, eyebrows pinching in thought. It was one of the first times that she hadn’t been able to read his face. He looked away from her, glancing at where Keith and Lance stood.

Celeste’s blood ran cold. She was so close to getting away with who she truly was. Why didn’t she think about this happening? If she had refused the medical then they wouldn’t have found out who she really was. She might have made them more suspicious but she would have been able to figure something out. Then, the team would have been forced to try to get her back to her own timeline. All without her accidentally spilling important information that didn’t need to be found out. 

“What about her DNA?” Pidge asked, intrigued. 

“It says. . .” Coran glancing down at Celeste’s once before face. He looked at where Keith and Lance were huddled, the same unreadable expression present on his face. “It says that she’s the daughter of Keith and Lance.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! You come yell and talk about voltron with me on tumblr at vld-pilots


	3. trust issues

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith couldn't have a kid with Lance - that was impossible for far too many reasons. Biology and anatomy being one, but also because who would ever want to stick around Keith long enough to raise a kid with him, much less Lance?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 3!! I hope you guys enjoy it! As always, thank you for reading !!

“What?” Lance yelled, baffled. “That’s not possible. There is no way in hell that that is possible. No way. We’re both cisgender boys! ” 

“Actually. . .” Allura started. “Alteans did have a way to reproduce offspring for couples who were unable to conceive on their own, whatever their obstacle.” 

“But. . .” Keith stammered. “I would never - not with Lance!” 

“Oh thanks, buddy,” Lance sneered. “That means a lot.” 

Celeste’s focus shifted from Keith to Lance, worried that they would start fighting. It would be all her fault, and she couldn’t deal with that stress right now. She already had to figure out how to get back to her own time and not ruin the future at the same time. Keith had obviously hurt Lance. Although it may only be obvious to her, they were both similar in how their felt and reacted to certain situations. And he raised her, it was hard to live with someone for nearly two decades and not know how to easily read their expressions. But Keith wouldn’t be able to tell that he hurt Lance, not yet, anyways. 

“Coran,” Allura asked, eyeing Keith and Lance. “Are you sure?” 

Coran laughed a little, showing her the data pad with the proof. “I’m sure you would tell us if this was wrong, wouldn’t ya?” He asked, directing the question towards Celeste. 

“It’s true,” Celeste confirmed, looking down at the data pad herself. 

“We need to find a way to send Celeste home. But before that, we need to find her a place to stay,” Shiro decided. “Do you live on the Castle in your time? “

“We all do,” She responded. “But there have been some updates to the Castle. Other than that, it’s all the same.” 

“Except Keith and Lance are in looooove,” Hunk reminded, becoming the target for many glares. 

“Would you mind telling us where you live on the castle? I’m sure we could make accommodations to make life as normal as possible for you,” Allura supplied. 

“I live in my dad’s - Keith’s old room,” Celeste replied. She quickly fixed her mistake of calling Keith her dad. They probably weren’t ready for that yet. That was understandable. “But I can sleep anywhere, honestly.” 

“She can have it,” Keith said, speaking for the first time since denying his part in any of this. “I don’t mind.” 

“No, seriously,” Celeste argued, not wanting to make him more uncomfortable. He didn’t even know her If she took his room, he could end of resenting her. She couldn’t even take a chance on that happening. Not before he even got to know her. “You don’t have to do that, I’ll be fine.” 

“Nonsense,” He retorted. “Take my room. I can room with somebody else or sleep on the couch for a bit. It doesn’t have to be a big deal.”

“Okay,” Celeste hesitantly agreed, knowing that his mind probably wouldn’t change. Her dad was so damn stubborn sometimes, often too much for his own good. 

“Lance!” Allura called, getting his attention. “Why don’t you and Keith share for the time that Celeste is here? The experience will bring you two closer.”

Lance scowled. “I don’t know if you noticed but Keith doesn’t exactly want anything to do with me.”

“That is not what I said!” Keith argued, turning to face Lance. 

“You said that you would never have a kid with me,” Lance spat. “I’m probably your last choice, anyways! It sounds a lot like you don’t want anything to do with me.”

“I was shocked!” Keith retorted. “Stop overreacting!” 

“I’m not overreacting!” Lance shouted back. “There’s a girl sitting right in front of us as proof that we had a kid, yet you act as if you want nothing to do with me! I thought we were starting to be friends, Keith! I guess not.” Lance turned, storming out of the medical bay. Keith looked after him, obviously struggling about what to do. The rest of the team dispersed, too tired of the awkward and tense air. Celeste got up from the medical chair, trailing towards the door. She figured she should just hang out in the living room until everything got resolved. 

*

Lance marched to his room, uncaring if the others’ thought that he was making a scene. Sure, it was definitely weird having a girl from the future show up. Yes, it was even weirder when she claimed to be his daughter. But that didn’t give Keith the right to act like a dick. The fact that Keith had been so vehemently against even the possibility of having a kid with him was what had truly bothered Lance. 

Lance sighed, deciding that he was just going to stay in his room for the rest of the day. Keith obviously didn’t want to do anything with Lance and he highly doubted that the rest of the team wanted to hang out with him either. Keith could go be a loner or whatever the fuck he did, and the rest of the team could pair off like they always did. 

He climbed into bed, pulling the blanket up to his chin and allowing himself to daydream about Earth. It was what he usually did whenever he felt sad. He knew it wasn’t the healthiest or smartest thing to do, but he always indulged himself when he felt really low. Lance thought of his older siblings, of his nephews and nieces. He thought of the food he missed the most and the feel of the waves hitting his skin as he stood in the surf on the beach. He thought of the summer camp he always went to, singing around the fireplace. Believe it or not, Lance had been really popular there. It was one of the first places he felt that he had truly fit in. Lance tried not to think about what they told the other campers who knew him this past summer. Or if they said anything about his absence at all. He was probably presumed dead on Earth, but he wondered how many people must have known that. Or cared. 

Trying to keep himself from crying, he refocused on his family. He thought about his mom and what she would say to him now. He knew she would be proud of him, but he knew she would also be scared for him. Maybe it was better that she probably thought he was dead. At least she wasn’t constantly worrying about him. 

Lance sighed, realizing that thinking of home wasn’t going to make him feel better. It never did but he didn’t stop trying. Hopefully, thinking of home may someday make him feel better instead of making him feel worse. He wasn’t sure if that day would ever. 

Instead of trying to fix his rotten mood Lance resigned himself to his self-care routine. He pulled himself out of his bed and walked into his bathroom, quickly washing his face and then grabbing his favorite alien face mask. It was a lilac color and made his face super soft after every use. After he was halfway through applying the face he heard a knock on his door. He sighed, placing the jar on his counter and walking to his door. 

“Keith, if it’s you, I don’t want to talk to your ugly face right now,” He grumbled as he approached. He opened the door, surprised to see Celeste on the other side. “Oh. It’s you.”

“Yeah,” She said, worrying her bottom lip between her teeth. “It’s me. I just wanted to check on you.”

“Oh,” Lance replied, stumped. “Why?” 

“Whenever I feel upset you always check on me,” Celeste explained. “I thought I’d return the favor.” 

“Oh,” He said again, touched. “That’s really sweet. Thank you.” He paused, wondering what he should do next. “Do you want to do a face mask with me?” 

She smiled. “That would be great.” He opened the door, letting her follow him to the bathroom. 

“This room looks so different than what I’m used to,” Celeste commented as she trailed behind him. 

“What’s so different?” Lance questioned, curious about his future room. He picked up the jar again, starting to apply his face mask once again. 

“Your bed is a lot bigger, you guys figured out how to extend them from the wall,” She told him. “And you guys realized that Dad actually has a knack for interior design? He redid like half the castle. It’s very old Altean castle-ship meets modern Earth’s favorite interior trends.”

“Huh,” Lance said as he thought about that for a moment while he finished up his face. “Who would’ve guessed, Keith’s an interior designer. If anyone, I would’ve have guessed Coran.” 

Celeste laughed, scooping up some of the face mask and applying it to her face. “He’s more of the guy we go to we our emotional troubles, not our interior struggles.” 

“Do you come to me for advice, too?” Lance asked quietly, hoping that his kid at least trusted him enough to ask him for advice. 

Celeste’s face softened, probably picking up on his insecurities. “Of course!” She assured him, smiling shyly at him. “You’re like my biggest supporter. Of course I come to you for advice, I come to you and Dad with almost everything.” 

Lance returned the smile, delighted to know his kid trusted him so thoroughly. His family was founded on trust. It was one of the things that he had always dreamed in his own family. “Am I a cool dad?” 

Celeste laughed, smirking a little as she replied. “I don’t know about cool. . .”

Lance let out a playfully offended gasp. “You take that back!” 

“No!” She laughed more, dodging him as he tried to wipe off some of her face mask with his fingers. She ran out into his room, hitting a panel on the wall and disappearing into it as it opened. 

“Hey!” He yelled, hitting the wall around the same spot she had hit it. The door refused to open for him. He let out an ‘humph’ and sat on the ground outside. “You come back out here and evade me like a real woman!” 

“No!” She laughed, voice muffled from inside the wall. 

“Eventually your mask will dry and you’ll need to wash it off,” He smugly said. 

“But your mask will dry before mine and while you wash it off I will escape,” Celeste replied, equally smug. 

“Dammit, child,” He cursed, realizing that she was right. “Did I have to raise you to be so smart?” 

“We’re still in the past, you can raise me to be dumber if you really want,” She pointed out. 

“Nah,” Lance decided. “I feel like we did a good job on you.” 

“Everyone but Shiro would agree,” She agreed. 

“What happened with Shiro?” He asked, confused. 

“Oh, he thinks you should’ve named me after him,” She explained. “He’s still salty about it and brings it up every time he gets a chance to. And every one of my birthdays.” 

Lance laughed, realizing that he had a lot to look forward to in his life. He got to spend his life with his space family and have a space family of his own. Maybe fighting this war was worth it. One day he would have a family of his own. And he would be able to raise them in a more peaceful universe, a safer one. He had always wanted a family, and now he was helping to make the world a safer place for them. 

“Are you happy?” He inquired. “I feel like I’m going crazy up here in space. I can’t imagine what growing up in space is like.”

“Very,” Celeste responded. “I feel restless sometimes but I think I would feel the same way if I lived in a small town or something. Everyone feels restless after a while, no matter where they live. Plus, I get to see planets and civilizations that almost no one else does. I would rather see all those places than live on Earth anyday.” 

Lance found himself smiling softly. “I’m glad to hear that,” He said honestly.

Noticing the time, Lance realized that he should wash his face mask off. He tried to stand up as silently as possible, not wanting to alert Celeste. Once she found out, she was dashing. “So, what do you do for fun?” He asked, trying to distract her from his retreating footsteps. 

“Well, I read a lot. Pidge, Hunk, Dad, and I all have a little book club. Sometimes Coran and Allura join us, but not that often. We met once a month, usually,” Celeste told him. “And I play videogames, and I train a lot too! I’m on level twenty with the bots! You guys didn’t let me start training until I was ten since you were worried that I was going to hurt myself but - hey! Are you washing your face?” 

Dammit, Lance thought, he was actually enjoying getting to hear about her daily life. “No!” He yelled from the bathroom’s doorway, hoping she’d buy it. 

“Yeah, I thought so,” She said. The door panel slid open and he watched as she dashed out of the room. “See you later, Papá!” 

Lance smiled and shook his head as he returned to washing his face. He barely knew her but he knew that he loved her already. 

*

Keith was training. He was trying to get that stupid conversation with Lance out of his head. It was basically on constant repeat, always highlighting where he went wrong. Keith would do almost anything to get the image of Lance’s expression out of his head forever. 

He hit the training bot harder, hoping to beat it. Or for it to finally distract him like he wants. Whichever came first. He ducked under the oncoming arm that was swinging towards him, extending his left arm and plunging his knife straight into the bot’s side. He turned, noticing the other training bot coming towards him. His right arm slashed through the bot’s side in no time, his instincts kicking in before he even realized. Another training bot charged on him. Wasting no time, Keith jumped and flipped over. The edge of his sword caught onto the bot’s head, slicing the head of the bot neatly in half. He grunted as he landed, surveying the rest of the training room. There were no more bots in sight, a job well done. He allowed himself a moment to feel proud before he felt guilty again.

“Nice job,” Someone said from behind him. He turned around, spotting Celeste standing by the entrance to the training room. “You can’t do flips anymore. Bad knees.” 

“Really? I feel like I’d be cooler than that.” Keith had hoped that he’d be one of those cool parents that always showed off. It had made him well-respected enough at the Garrison. Nobody had tried to pick on him, that had to mean something. 

“Not everyone can evade the effects of aging, even super-fit-part-Galra-parents,” Celeste said dryly. “Plus, you always are super hard on your knees during missions.”

“That’s disappointing, honestly,” Keith didn’t have to joke that much, he meant what he said. Future him sounded lame and had made some questionable decisions.

“So, I actually wanted to talk about something,” Celeste brought up. Great, this would probably go so well for Keith. It was a sad day when he got a talk on attitude and hurting people’s feelings from his own kid.

“What?” Keith spat, debating on starting the bot up again. He knew that his attitude was shit, that’s why he was working out. He just needed to pity himself for a moment and get all fired up before he tried to solve anything. 

“The whole thing with Lance,” Celeste answered. “What happened? Why did you say something like that, in that specific tone?”

Keith gaped, not sure how to respond. Should he explain his fear of abandonment and trust issues to this near stranger? He never wanted to talk to people about things like this. If people just left him alone he would be much happier and they probably would be too. Nobody really needed a brash and emotionally-stunted person like Keith in their lives. At least, that’s message he got. Shiro and Adam were the only ones who ever really made an exception.

“I was taken aback,” He surmised, desperate to keep Celeste as far away from his feelings as possible. “Wouldn’t you be surprised if someone appeared from the future and claimed to be your future kid?” 

“Well, yes,” She guessed as she stepped further into the room. She walked over to the bench at the edge of the room, gesturing for him to come sit beside her. “But you really hurt his feelings.” 

“And? He’s overreacting,” Keith protested. He sat down next to her and grabbed his water bottle that he had put there earlier. “I don’t get why he’s so mad about it.” 

“It’s bothering you, I can tell,” Celeste observed. “And maybe he is overreacting, but you should still apologize. You don’t know how he interpreted your surprise. He may have thought you meant something different.” 

Keith shrugged in response. “Seriously?” She remarked, raising her eyebrows. “Dude, you are so much better at this in the future. Thank God.” 

“Did we raise you to be religious?” Keith hypothesized. “Wait, can you call me dude? I’m your father.” 

“Yes, I can call you dude,” She groaned, rolling her eyes. “And Papá did make sure that I knew about his religion but you guys never shoved it down my throat or anything.” 

“Lance is religious?” Keith questioned. Huh, he never knew about that. 

Celeste brought her hands to her temple and started to massage her head. “It’s like you’re trying to make this harder on me,” She complained. “Yes, Papá is religious. He’s catholic. His faith is very important to him and it’s actually one of the things you really admire about him. But back to the current problem, you need to apologize to Lance. And as soon as possible, too. He thinks you hate him or something.” 

“Quite the opposite,” Keith scoffed. 

“Yeah, I know,” Celeste rolled her eyes again for emphasis. “You don’t have to tell me that. But you should tell him that!” 

“I don’t know how!” He exclaimed as he tugged on the ends of his hair, something he did whenever he got nervous or agitated. 

“It’s simple!” Celeste shouted back, equally as loud. “You just go ‘I’m sorry I was stupid. I have trust issues and a fear of dying alone that was basically abolished when I found we’re in love in the future. Please forgive me.’ See! It’s not that hard.” 

“How do you know about my trust issues and fear of dying alone?” Keith demanded, glaring at her. 

“Dude, I am your daughter, I know more about you than you do!” She reminded. “Believe it or not, you actually open up a lot more as an adult. You reconnect and meet some people in your life that make you believe that you’re not unlovable. Lance doesn’t understand your fears because he doesn’t know about them yet.” 

“I don’t want to tell him about them,” Keith mumbled, realizing that he was close to tears. “What if this is all just a dream or something? What if he eventually does leave and I’m left all alone? I can’t have a kid with anyone, much less him. Why would he ever want me and why would he ever stay?” He looked up at Celeste, realizing that her arms were extended towards him, paused in the air and hesitant. He nodded his consent, allowing her to hug him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, hooking her chin over his shoulder. His arms tentatively came to rest on her upper back. He wasn’t used to this at all. 

“Don’t worry, you get better at this in the future, too,” She laughed a little, her voice thick with tears. They were silent for a moment before she spoke again. “You know that Lance is one of the most selfless people ever, right? But he’s also one of the most thoughtful and caring, as well as loving. He’s truly one of the greatest people I know. I am biased, but still.” They both laughed a little as they moved out of their hug. “Because of all of that, I can assure you that he will never leave you. No matter what, he is your friend first and anything else second. He would never abandon you.” 

“You don’t know that for sure,” Keith croaked, trying to find some way to prove her wrong. He didn’t want to start hoping that she was right. Once you started to hope you could only be let down. “Things could still go wrong in your future. Future Lance could leave future me.” 

“But he won’t, I can promise you that,” Celeste affirmed. “Lance promised to love you until death do you part. And then he promised forever because he can’t keep things simple. But if there’s one thing that I know about my parents, it’s that they are extremely devoted to keeping their promises.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you enjoyed this chapter please feel free to leave a comment below! You can always follow me on tumblr @ vld-pilots as well! Thank you for reading!


	4. shout about your feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith finds Lance to apologize, unaware of just how insecure Lance truly is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!! I just finished writing chapter 9 and I'm planning on posting a chapter about every 1-2 days, so just stay tuned for that! As always, thank you for reading.

Keith knocked hesitantly on the door. After his talk with Celeste he decided that he should talk to Lance. He had quickly showered and then eaten a protein goo-bar (‘They’re not that bad, Keith, oh my God, just eat it,’ Hunk had whined at him) before walking down the hall to Lance’s room. He really wanted to resolve the whole sorry-I-hurt-your-feelings problem before the night cycle, since he was rooming with Lance. Keith could always share with Shiro, but that wasn’t always the wisest thing. Shiro was either very tired and mentally drained from a day of leading the paladins, or he was trying to dig into Keith’s personal life. He could practically feel Shiro about to explode with the news of Future Keith’s adoration for Future Lance. Rooming with him tonight (or any night from now on, really) would be a terrible mistake. 

Keith waited for about seven seconds before the door was pried open Lance. 

“What do you want?” Lance asked with a sneer. 

“Uh,” Keith blanked, surprised by the coldness from Lance. He should have been more prepared for this. He had been a dick, he should have expected that Lance would be pissed and cold towards him. “I wanted to apologize.” 

“Hmm,” Lance considered as crossed his arms across his chest and raised an eyebrow. His hair was wrapped up in a towel, his body adorning an Altean robe. They all had one from the old paladins, but Keith never bothered with his own. But Lance looked good, and Keith was not stupid enough to deny that. “I’ll consider it. You can come in.” 

He turned and walked towards his two armchairs, ones that they had found in old Altean unused rooms. Some of them hadn’t touched the furniture, Keith included, but Lance had redecorated, leaving him with a small seating area and a desk in the other corner of his room. Keith sat down, not used to doing this whole “Let’s talk about our feelings!” thing with anyone, much less Lance. Whenever Shiro wanted to have a serious conversation he usually just trapped Keith in a room and started talking. Keith was trapping himself in a room this time, how mature of him. He watched as Lance sat down across from him, still eyeing him as he crossed his legs. 

Keith and Lance stared at each other until Keith realized that Lance wasn’t going to talk first. Great. He really had to step up and be an adult today. He was already close to regretting this whole thing and he hadn’t even started the actual conversation yet. “Um, so,” He stuttered as he tried to find the words he wanted to say. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry for acting disgusted when I found out that we had a kid together. I wasn’t disgusted, just surprised. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings and I am sorry that I did.” 

“Hmm,” Lance pondered, eyeing Keith even more. Keith fidgeted under his gaze, unsure of what he should do. Why was Lance staring him down? It’s not like he had anything to hide! “Are you just trying to cover your tracks?” 

“What? No!” Keith protested. “What does that even mean?” 

“Were you or were you not actually disgusted when you found out that we had a kid together, Keith Kogane?” Lance asked as he leaned forward in his chair as if this was an episode of a investigation show or something. All Lance needed was a lamp in a dark room and he would have it all.

“I wasn’t! Anyone would be lucky to have kids with your genepool,” Keith reaffirmed. “Wait, how do you know my last name?” 

Lance rolled his eyes. That must be where Celeste got it from. Was it disrespectful for your teen to roll their eyes at you? He would have to wait until the future to figure that one out. “We were in the same class at the Garrison for literal years, and we’ve lived together for months now. I know your last name.” 

“Weird,” Keith commented, ignoring the “Not really,” from Lance. 

“Wait, back it up,” Lance said, holding his hand up. “What do you mean ‘Anyone would be lucky to have kids with your genepool?’”

“That anyone would be lucky to have kids with your genepool,” Keith restated in a “duh” tone.

“I know what you said, Keith,” Lance stressed. “But what do you mean by that? I need to know what you’re implying by that before I react.” 

“That you’re attractive and anyone would be lucky to have kids with you because then the kids would get your attractiveness by default?” Keith reasoned. He was getting a little tired of Lance’s sassy attitude but he figured that he deserved it. Plus it was kind of fun to argue with him in a more playful way, it beat real arguing any day. 

“Wait,” Lance commanded once again. “You think I’m attractive?” 

Was this guy for real? “Lance,” Keith started, determined to not sound condescending. “There is a teenager on this ship that we decided to have in the future because we fell in love and you are surprised by the fact that I find you attractive? Plus, have you seen yourself? I’m surprised you’re not more narcissistic.” 

“Well, when you put it like that,” Lance reasoned and Keith resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Okay, maybe Celeste got it from the both of them. “But why were you so surprised when you found out that we have a kid together?” 

“Because I never thought that someone would love me enough to stay and have a kid with me?” Keith spat out, finding him surprised at how crass and blunt he was. “Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.” He apologized, rubbing his hands over his face. This was going terribly. Next, he’ll admit about how he has had awful self-image since he found out that he’s part Galra! Nothing like discovering that you share heritage with fascist aliens to fuck with your self-esteem.

“No, it’s okay,” Lance assured. “I kind of know what you mean. I always figured that everyone would get tired of me and nobody would ever truly love me? Everyone always gets annoyed at me eventually. It makes sense that nobody would ever want to marry me or anything, you know?” Lance scratched the back of his neck, letting out an awkward and clearly uncomfortable laugh. Keith knew that Lance would probably want to drop the topic, but he was shocked. Lance felt that way? He was the person who people always went to when they needed to be cheered up. He held their team together. Screw annoying, Lance was hilarious and always great at distracting people from their problems. How could he not see how incredible he was? Keith couldn’t even count, much less remember, all the times that Lance had helped the team after a hard mission, he always made sure that they took care of themselves before himself. How could he think that nobody would ever want to be with him? Lance was the example of who people should strive to be. 

“Fucking bet,” Keith nearly growled. 

“What?” Lance asked, confused. He looked so cute. His eyebrows pinched together in confusion, his legs thrown over the side of the armchair because he could never sit in chairs properly. His towel was slowly slipping off his head yet he didn’t seem to notice nor care. His robe was exposing more of his shoulder every minute, which Keith was sure he was doing it on purpose. 

“I’m gonna fall in love with you so hard and prove you wrong,” He promised, still furious that Lance couldn’t see someone ever falling for him. How could Lance feel so terrible about himself? Did he not realize how important his “annoying” nature really was? “You’re not going to be able to get rid of me. I’m going to adore your nagging.”

“Well, fine!” Lance countered. “If you’re going to fall in love with me then I’m going to fall in love with you, too! I’ll never leave your side, even if you want me to!” Lance had sat up in his chair, his towel completely falling to the ground. Neither boy paid it any mind. 

“Fine!” Keith exclaimed, standing too. “But know that you’re going to get sick of me and there’s going to be nothing you will be able to do about it.” 

“Fine! But you’re going to regret agreeing to this and when we’re in an old nursing home together you still won’t be able to get rid of me!” Lance threatened, stepping closer to Keith. 

“That sounds like a perfect way for me to spend my last few years on Earth!” Keith screamed. He moved closer to Lance. Lance couldn’t win at the intimidation tactic. “Too bad it won’t happen since nobody can stay! My life is a testament to that fact!” 

“Just you wait, Kogane!” Lance warned, face moving even closer. Oh God, what had Keith gotten himself into? “You’ll be so sick of me!” 

“I’ll never get sick of you!” Keith promised, trying to ignore how truthful the words actually were. He unconsciously nudged his head even further, his breath starting to mingle with Lance’s. The air around them felt like it was charged with electricity. 

Lance’s eyes moved from Keith’s eyes to his lips. Keith caught sight of him licking his lips and tried to ignore the burning in his gut. He was so close to him, he could feel his breath on his mouth. The proximity was driving him mad. Lance looked gorgeous. His cheeks were dusted with pink and his lips looked so soft and tempting.

“Well, I promise to stay by your side and help you fix your abandonment issues,” Lance countered, his voice growing softer. Keith could feel his cheeks burning at Lance’s words. They both wore matching blushes at this point. Keith had a feeling that it wouldn’t be the last time they would.

“Is that a promise or a threat?” Keith blurted as they locked eyes. 

“It’s both, babe,” Lance admitted, eyes trailing back down to Keith’s lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! You can follow me on tumblr @ vld-pilots. I always love having new people to follow and more people to talk to about voltron.


	5. only true gentlemen carry their future boyfriend through the hallways

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith adjust to sharing a room, as well as some Team Bonding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone who has been reading! And extra thanks to everyone commenting! It is so wonderful to log in and see your comments, especially people that make a habit of commenting. It's awesome to be able to recognize readers!

Believe it or not, it wasn’t that weird sharing a room with Lance. Keith thought it would be awkward, but so far it hadn’t been. He had worried that Lance would keep him up or would try to pry into his life, but he didn’t. It wasn’t awkward, although there were a few moments where Keith was sure that if he leaned in he could kiss Lance. It was kind of surreal, and weird, to have those thoughts, especially all of a sudden. A few days ago he had been fantasizing about beating Lance in the training room, now he was thinking about kissing him. Wack. 

Keith had known he was gay from a young age. He was around ten when he started to realize that he solely liked guys. After fighting a few kids who made fun of him, Shiro decided to intervene and have a talk with him. That talk lead to Keith trying not to cry, his younger self realizing that he didn’t know if Shiro would send him back to the orphanage or not. Keith hadn’t wanted to leave - Shiro had been the kindest person who had ever taken Keith under his wing. Once Shiro assured him that he wouldn’t give up on him, he managed to calm down and tell Shiro what had happened. 

“I think I like guys,” Keith had whispered. “But I’m supposed to like girls.” 

“Hey, buddy,” Shiro had said, putting a comforting hand on his back. He rubbed Keith’s back as he reached for a tissue. “You’re not ‘supposed’ to be anything. You’re allowed to choose who you want to be. It isn’t wrong to like guys.” 

“Are you sure?” Keith had cried as he wiped his eyes. “Because the guys at school said it was wrong.” 

Shiro frowned and stayed silent for a moment before answering. “Some people think its wrong, but they don’t get to decide what is right or wrong for you.” 

“Okay,” Keith sniffled. 

“You wanna know something?” Shiro had asked him, still rubbing his back. Keith nodded. “I like guys. And that’s okay! People can love who they love and they can kiss who they want to kiss, as long as they ask first. It doesn’t really matter what other people think. Okay?” 

“Okay,” Keith agreed, feeling much better than he had before. 

After that talk, Keith and Shiro became much closer. Keith started to open up to him more. He had finally known that someone wanted him to succeed, that someone wanted to make sure that he was okay. He knew that someone was proud of him and that someone was looking out for him. Shiro opened up to him more, too, finally telling him that Adam and him were dating. Keith kind of guessed, but it was reassuring to know that Shiro trusted him. Adam and Keith ended up becoming really close, too. 

Once he was enrolled in the Garrison, his life changed even more. All of a sudden, he was surrounded with people like him. People that wanted to be pilots and set new records, make new discoveries, all in space. He grew closer to Shiro, too. He even had him as a teacher a few times, which was hilarious for Keith but not for Shiro. Everyone thought Shiro was the cool teacher, but he really wasn’t. Keith made sure that they knew that by telling them about Shiro’s worst moments. 

There were downsides to being at the Garrison, though. Shiro knew practically everything that Keith did. Even though Shiro tried to respect his privacy and stay out, he still heard things. One time Keith was caught coming out of an unused classroom, which was notorious for student hookups. Thankfully, Shiro had stayed out of that one and didn’t ask any questions, just gave him some knowing looks. Keith was forever grateful for that. 

So, Keith had known he was gay. It was something that he had managed to be okay with, after enough time and exposure to other gay people. But it hadn’t seemed like a huge deal, until recently. Lance had somehow gone from being a pain in his ass to being a teammate, then to being someone that kind of resembles a friend. And know Keith was having thoughts about kissing him? Sure, they knew that they ended up together. Earlier that afternoon they literally had a yelling match about how they were committed to falling in love with each other. But did Keith have to be consumed with thoughts of kissing him, too? It was a little distracting, and Keith was already way too distracted. He didn’t need anymore.

But other than the constant want to smash his lips against Lance’s, sharing a room with him was actually kind of fun. 

Lance had decided that they were going to do facemasks. Keith begrudgingly agreed, knowing that it was better to just give in right away, rather than to fight it and get sucked in anyways. Lance would find a way to rope him into it, he knew that. 

“Okay, so your skin is a little red,” Lance had said. Keith was sitting on Lance’s bathroom counter, his hair pushed back with a pink headband they had borrowed from Allura. Lance was living for it, Keith was not. “I’m guessing that is just from overall neglect.”

“I do not neglect my skin, Lance,” Keith argued. “That’s a very harsh word.” 

“What do you use on your skin?” Lance asked doubtfully, eyebrow raised.

“I use a face wash that Allura gave me. Once I wash my face, I put lotion on it,” Keith said smugly, bordering on boasting. “You can’t tell me that I’m doing anything wrong.”

Lance groaned. “You are literally doing the bare minimum and yet, you are somehow proud of that.” Keith just shrugged while smirking. “It doesn’t change the fact that your face is still red. I’m guessing you have a mild irritation to the face wash you’re using.”

“How do you know all about this stuff anyways?” Keith questioned as Lance started rummaging through his stash of face washes and face masks. 

“I used to have really bad skin in middle school and ended up figuring out what worked for my skin and other people’s skin. I helped my friends out, too,” Lance explained. “It was cool.” 

“That is cool,” Keith agreed. “You should start a business.”

Lance chuckled. “I don’t think that will be happening anytime. But thanks for the insight.” Lance smiled up at him. “But let’s figure out your skin first before we start making any plans for the future.” 

Keith had been stuck with the goop on his face for 15 minutes, but it was worth it to see Lance enjoying himself so much. 

“Should we invite Celeste to hang out?” Lance had asked 5 minutes into Keith’s face mask. Keith was lounging on Lance’s bed, reading a romance book that Lance had stolen from Hunk. Lance had decided to paint his nails. “I feel like we should invite her. She’s probably lonely. Plus, we do end up being her parents eventually, we have some responsibility over her, I’m positive.”

“Sure,” Keith agreed, not really caring if she was there or not. But he was sure that it would make Lance feel better and Celeste was pretty cool. It would be a family bonding experience, something he was sure would be fun. Shiro was always encouraging familial moments. Keith knew he tried to act like a leader for a team but he was really sappy at heart. He was intent on being the best older brother he could be for Keith, always focusing on talking about things and making sure he was heard. It was honestly really sweet. It was also funny when Shiro cried during “Coco” simply because he adored how much the family loved each other. 

“I’ll go ask her,” Lance decided, starting to stand. “Oh shit.” He paused in his tracks. 

“What?” Keith wondered, actually bothering to look up from his book this time. 

“I can’t walk, I just painted my toenails,” Lance fretted. 

“Oh, that’s okay. I’ll just go ask her,” Keith volunteered, already setting his book aside and starting to sit up. 

“No!” Protested Lance, extending his arms as if to stop Keith. “We both have to ask her!” 

“I don’t think she cares that much,” Keith deadpanned. 

“Keith!” Lance whined. “It won’t mean the same if it’s just you asking her. You’re too gruff!”

“I am not!” Keith argued. 

“Yes, you are,” Lance said, crossing his arms. “That’s why we both have to ask her.” 

“Well, what do you want to do? Wait until your nails are dry?” Keith asked, debating on whether or not he should pick the book back up and continue reading. He realized that it would probably make Lance feel like he was trying to ignore him so he decided against it.

“I don’t want to wait. What if she’s lonely?” He pouted. Keith thought it was adorable. 

“How should we ask her then? If you can’t walk then we’ll just have to wait until you can,” Keith explained, not able to see around this situation. 

“Or,” Lance smirked. 

“Or what?” Keith mimicked. 

“Or you could carry me!” 

“I’m not carrying you,” Keith refused. 

“Why not? Too scared you’re not strong enough?” he teased, his face taking on a joking expression. Keith had never realized how cute Lance looked when he was trying to get a rise out of him before. He kind of wanted to keep denying Lance, just so he could appreciate how cute he looked. 

“No,” Keith denied. “We’ll look ridiculous! I have goop all over my face and a pink headband on! You’re in a robe! What if the others see us?”

“We’re basically family now,” Lance argued. “Literally nobody cares. I can assure you that Coran, Hunk, and Pidge would find it funny and probably try to join in in some way. Shiro and Allura would probably sigh and then continue on with their business. And Celeste is probably used to a whole lot worse.” 

“You do have a point,” Keith considered. Agreeing meant that he would have to traipse throughout the castle with Lance in his arms. It would be absurd at worse and laughable at best. But like Lance said, probably nobody would care. But would Keith be able to handle Lance in his arms? He would be so close, and it was such a romantic thing to do. Keith hardly doubted that Lance would consider this situation romantic, but in literally any other situation it would be. “Fine. I’ll carry you around or whatever.” 

“Yay!” Lance exclaimed, reaching his arms out for Keith. “Just make sure you don’t drop me? Because I will sue you.” Keith stood, coming to stand behind Lance. He just wanted to wrap his arms around Lance’s waist and burrow his face into his neck. Oh my God. ‘Pull yourself together, Keith,’ He said to himself, trying to mentally prepare himself. 

“How will you sue me if there are no lawyers in space? Or court, for that matter,” Keith asked, placing his hands on Lance’s shoulders, gesturing to him that he should turn him sideways, allowing Keith to then pick him up. 

“I’ll find a way,” Lance promised, turning when Keith nudged him. “Hunk will be my lawyer. Allura can be the judge and everyone else will be the jury.” 

“What about my lawyer?” Keith asked, slipping his right arm behind Lance and bending down to grab Lance’s legs with his left arm. “Don’t I deserve one?”

“Maybe Shiro will pity you, idk,” Lance said, wrapping his arms around Keith’s neck as he lifted him. “Wee! I love this already.” 

“You’re ridiculous,” Keith grunted. 

“You love it,” Lance teased, idly swinging his legs as Keith walked towards the door. 

“Don’t get your hopes up,” Keith remarked. It was all he could say to keep himself from agreeing with Lance. Yes, he really did love it. 

They made it to the hallway and walked towards Keith’s room, where Celeste was currently staying. It was a short walk since Keith’s room was literally right next to Lance’s. They shared a wall and everything. 

“Alright, Keith, we’re here,” Lance declared. 

“I know,” Keith said gruffly. “This is my room.” 

“Just thought I’d let you know,” Lance crossed his arms, taking on a pout. “Gosh, men these days. You offer them a helpful tip and they’re all like ‘I know’ and ‘This is my room.’ Why can’t people just be thankful?” 

“Thank you, Lance,” Keith voiced. “Now, will you be a dear and knock for me?” 

“Well, since you asked so nicely,” Lance cheerfully said, reaching out to knock on the door. They waited for a half a minute before realizing that she probably wasn’t in there. 

“She must be hanging out with the team,” Keith guessed. “Are we sure she’s our future kid?” 

“Speak for yourself,” Lance said. “I love hanging out with people. She probably learned how to talk to people because of me.” 

Keith rolled his eyes, turning and starting to walk down the rest of the hallway to the communal area. “Okay, stop bragging about things you haven’t even done yet. There’s no point if you haven’t actually done it.”

“But I probably will,” Lance pointed out. 

“But we don’t know that for certain,” Keith disagreed. 

Lance humphed, crossing his arms once more. “You just can’t stand it when I am successful.” 

Keith scoffed. “You haven’t been successful, you haven’t done anything. And you know I only want you to succeed.” 

“You do?” Lance asked, his voice surprised. 

Keith shrugged, thinking that Lance already knew this. “Of course? Why wouldn’t I?”

“Because we’re rivals, Keith!” He declared, his voice increasing in volume. “You should want me to fail!” 

“You want me to fail?” Keith looked down at him, raising an eyebrow. Keith was genuinely curious. He never thought that Lance wanted him to fail, but then again, Lance was really good at hiding how he truly felt about things. 

“Of course not!” Lance spluttered. 

“Then why should I want you to fail?” He asked, puzzled. 

“Because we’re rivals!” Lance repeated, as if that should clear everything up. 

“No, we’re not?” Keith gave Lance a questioning look. Lance returned it with a questioning look of his own. 

“I guess we’re not,” Lance mumbled, looking down. 

“Did you think that we were?” Keith quietly asked, honestly a little confused. He thought that Lance just didn’t like him when they first met. He didn’t realize that they apparently had a rivalry going on. 

“At first?” He said hesitantly, unsure of himself. “Our scores were always so close on almost everything. I barely beat you on so many things. I kind of assumed you knew who I was and that you noticed I had you beat on some things. I guess I kind of transferred it to space.” 

“I never paid attention,” Keith admitted. “I just had to get a certain score for Shiro to get off my back about my grades. I never noticed other people’s scores.”

“Oh,” Lance said, his eyes still downcast. 

“I’m sorry,” Keith said, unsure if he should be apologizing or something of sort. 

“No, it’s my fault,” Lance apologized. “God, I was so mean to you when we first got here. I just assumed that you knew who I was and knew about our supposed ‘rivalry.’”

“Hey,” Keith said, wanting Lance to stop beating himself up. “I was mean to you, too. It doesn’t excuse anything we did, but we were both pretty rude. And I can kind of see how we had a rivalry.” 

“I guess,” He still sounded so dejected. Keith wanted to change that.

“Why are you so obsessed with our rivalry?” Keith asked, trying to make it clear that he was teasing. “Are you secretly obsessed with me?” 

“Shut up!” Lance laughed, shoving Keith’s chest. He decided to rest his head against Keith’s shoulder. “Back when I was obsessed with you, it was not a secret. Pretty much everyone knew.” 

Keith blanched. “Wait, what?” 

Lance giggled. “What do you mean ‘what?’ I was obsessed with you when we got launched into space. Why wouldn’t I be? My supposed rival got expelled and then randomly shows up a year later, looking hot, by the way, and I was supposed to not be obsessed with him?” 

“You’re joking,” Keith had slowed down to his disbelief. “Really?”

 

“Really,” Lance confirmed, laughing. “I had no idea how to act around you. It was obvious.” 

Keith thought about it for a moment. He recounted the first few weeks of Voltron, remembering how Lance was always bickering with him and always staring at him. At the time, he had just assumed that Lance had just been looking for Keith to make a mistake and then point it out. 

“Yeah,” Keith agreed and Lance sputtered. 

“You can’t agree with me!” He claimed. “You have to pretend that you were oblivious to make me feel better.”

“No, Lance,” Keith feigned. “I had no idea, especially now that you’ve pointed your odd behavior to me.”

“Thank you,” Lance said, smiling up at Keith. “That’s so much better.” 

“Uh,” Hunk chimed in, catching both Keith and Lance’s attention. They must have made it to the common room. Keith hadn’t really been paying attention, shocking revelations and all distracting him. “Hi guys?”

“Hi, Hunk!” Lance said enthusiastically, waving at him from his perch in Keith’s arms. 

“What are you doing, Lance?” He asked, gesturing to how Keith was carrying him. 

“Oh!” Lance caught on. “We’re looking for Celeste and my nails weren’t dry so Keith carried me, like a gentleman.” 

“Oh,” Hunk accepted, as if this was just a normal thing. Although, he knew Lance for years, this probably wasn’t too weird for him. “That makes sense.” 

“So, do you know where Celeste is?” Keith asked, figuring that they should probably find her soon. He had only been carrying Lance for a few minutes but his arms were already starting to get a little tired. This wasn’t a workout that he was used to, which explained the soreness. 

“Oh, yeah!” Hunk said. “She’s hanging out with Allura on the main deck.” 

“Thanks, Hunk,” Keith smiled. 

“Wait!” Lance yelled as soon as Keith started walking again. “I need to kiss my man goodbye. Hunk!” He made grabby hands towards Hunk, begging him to come closer. Hunk sighed but smiled and walked towards Lance nonetheless. Lance sat up in Keith’s arms, pecking Hunk quickly on the cheek. Hunk kissed him on the forehead, smiling at Lance’s pleased hum, before returning to his work. 

“Bye, guys!” Hunk waved to them as they left. They walked through the lounge and ended up right outside of the entrance to the main deck when they heard Allura’s voice. 

“. . . and you’re positive?” She asked, her voice quiet. 

“I’m sure,” Celeste confirmed. “I don’t know exactly why I have been transported here but I know that it was no accident. You have always told me that my quintessence was off, that something strange would happen when I was older. This has to be it.” 

“Okay,” Allura sighed. “I’ll tell Pidge.” 

“What do you think they’re talking about?” Lance whispered to Keith, not wanting either girl to realize that they had unintentionally eavesdropped. Keith shrugged. 

“Thank you, Tia,” Celeste said, pausing. “I’m sorry. Thank you, Princess.” 

“It’s fine,” Allura assured her. “It is a comfort to know you exist. That we all exist in the future. It is reassuring to know that we all have a future to look forward to.” 

“I kind of know what you mean,” Celeste confided. “It gets so hard sometimes. I never tell Papá or Dad this, but it can be so hard to be hopeful. It feels as if our work will never be finished. It is rewarding work, of course, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world, but it’s draining and never ending.” 

Allura hummed. “I know how you feel. I often feel the same way, even now. We still have a war to win. I’ve lost everything for this effort. But I remember that there are many experiences to still live and many more people and efforts to help with. It doesn’t always fix my outlook, but it’s nice to remember that I haven’t lived or felt all that I will.” 

“That’s true,” Celeste said. “I’m falling in love for the first time, that’s something to look forward to.”

Lance could hear the smile in her voice. “Yes, it most definitely is. I still have that to look forward to as well.” 

“You’ll love that, no joke intended,” Celeste said, giggling. “You and your spouse are the sweetest couple ever. I think even my parents get a little jealous.” 

“That is wonderful to hear,” Allura giggled. “I will be so excited to see you again after you leave our time.” 

“I am so grateful that I got to meet you,” Celeste expressed. “Well, teenage you. You’re so similar yet so different.” 

“I am grateful to have meet you, too,” Allura admitted. “You’ve reassured our hope.”

All of sudden, Lance sneezed, exposing their cover. 

“Who’s there?” Allura demanded. Lance could hear her shuffling to stand in front of Celeste and the unmistakable sound of her activating her bayard. 

“Just us,” Keith shouted, kicking the cracked door open the rest of the way so that Allura could see him and Keith. 

“Oh,” Allura remarked, sounding a lot less intimidating now that she knew who was outside. “How much did you hear?” Nevermind, defensive Allura was back!

“Not too much, don’t worry!” Lance assured her from his perch in Keith’s arms. “Nothing too spoilery.” 

“Well, I guess that is reassuring in some way,” Allura murmured as she turned back to Celeste. “Shall we escort them back to the common room? I feel as if we should focus on team bonding while you are visiting. We should gather the others as well.” 

“Sure,” Celeste agreed, moving to walk with Keith to the common room. “I’ll find Pidge with these two, you find Shiro? I know that Hunk is in the common room with Coran.” 

“Sounds like a plan,” Allura said, heading off in the opposite direction where her and Shiro’s rooms were located. 

As Celeste walked to join Keith and Lance she glanced at their position. “I didn’t realize you guys were this close already..”

“His nails weren’t dry.” Keith said, as if that explained everything. 

Lance stuck his leg out, drawing Celeste’s attention to his toenails, which were probably dry by this point. “Oh! I love that shade of pink. Me and my sister paint our nails that shade all the time.” She said, smiling faintly at the memory. Keith caught her subconsciously rubbing her nails on her left hand with her right hand. 

“You have a sister?” Lance asked curiously. “Is she younger or older?” 

“She’s younger,” Celeste commented as they began to walk towards the common room. “Her name is Nova. She’s really sweet.” 

“Wow. It’s like we gave our kids space-themed names or something,” Keith muttered. 

“You did,” Celeste laughed lightly. Her eyes twinkled as her cheeks flushed. “You wanted to pay tribute to space or something like that, at least that’s what my Papá has always told me.” 

“That sounds like something Lance would do,” Keith mused. 

“Hey!” Lance gasped, feigning offense. “I bet you loved the names, too.” 

“Yeah,” Celeste confirmed. “He even picked out some boy names, too. Which were also space-themed.” 

“Told you so,” Lance sing-songed. 

“Yeah, whatever,” Keith tried to play it cool. In reality, he was freaking out. He helped pick out names for his and Lance’s child. That was so fucking domestic? He was going to do that someday? He couldn’t wait for the day, as cheesy as that sounded. 

“What else can you spill?” Lance eagerly asked Celeste. 

“Hmm,” She placed a finger on her chin. “Keith’s has long ass hair, like really long. It goes to like the middle of his back.” 

“No way!” Lance shouted, obviously very excited at the prospect of Keith with long hair. Keith thought it was kind of badass of his future self. “Wait, are you allowed to swear?” 

“Totally,” Celeste said without a second thought. 

“Sounds fake but okay,” Lance said, not caring enough to scold her. Keith didn’t care enough either. They probably weren’t the coolest parents in the world, so they had to seem cool while Celeste was here. If turning a blind eye to her very mild swears was the way, so be it. “Does Keith let me braid it?” 

“Um, kind of? Dad always let my Papá braid his hair when he’s really stressed or sad. You can always tell Papá had a hard day when Dad has a complicated braid in his hair or something. But he braids mine and Nova’s hair all the time.” She told them, looking a little teary eyed as she did. “We always crowd around the mirror in the bathroom and get ready together. We don’t have to, there are more than enough bathrooms in this castle, but it’s like our little family time everyday.” Lance’s heart softened as he heard that. The fact that Keith would let him braid his hair? Precious. He was already so undeserving of Keith, and they weren’t even together yet. And Lance knew how much Keith treasured his alone time, especially in the morning. He must really love them all a lot to want to get ready with them in the morning, every morning. 

“That’s so sweet,” Lance whispered, already looking forward to the day that this would be his reality. He caught Keith’s eye, noticing he looked exactly how Lance felt. 

“Yeah,” Celeste agreed. “You guys love us so much. It gets a little overbearing at time, but we know you just want what is best for us in the end. Even if you’re overprotective freaks.”

Lance scoffed. “We are not!” 

Celeste laughed, glancing down at him crossing his arms in defense. “You so are. You both admit to it, trust me. You know your problems, yet refuse to work on them.” 

“I bet its Keith’s fault,” Lance mumbled. 

“Hey! I heard that,” Keith said, laughing lightly. “If you insult my parenting skills again I’ll make you walk the rest of the way there.” 

“And force me to ruin my pedicure?” Lance asked, mortified. 

“I think its dry, honey,” Keith said, adoring the way that Lance’s cheeks darkened when he called him “Honey,” even though he meant it in a joking way. He’ll have to save that information for later, sure that it’ll be useful. 

“Glad to see that you’ve always been like this,” Celeste said, smiling between the two of them. 

“What? Fighting?” Keith pinched his eyebrows together. 

“No, no!” Celeste said. “This isn’t fighting at all! It’s teasing. You guys tease each other all the time. Everyone thinks it’s hilarious.” 

“Oh,” Keith thought. He wondered when it stopped being fighting and started becoming teasing. The team always seemed to get mad at them for fighting, but now that he thought about it, that hadn’t happened in a while. Did Lance know when they had become friendlier? Keith really couldn’t remember. There was that time when Lance slipped in a pile of food goop and Keith just wanted to help him up and make sure he was okay. Instead, he asked him if he was trying out for the goop-sled races in the olympics. It was a stupid joke, but Lance laughed anyways. That had been months ago. 

Keith glanced down at Lance in his arms, now chatting with Celeste about hair products or something of the likes. He hadn’t realized that he had become so. . . what was the word? Fond? He had become much more fond of Lance. Never had Keith thought that he would be using the word fond, much less to describe the way he felt about someone, much less that person being Lance. But here he was, Lance cradled in his arms for the second time, and hopefully not their last, as Keith was described his feelings as fond. His affection could only grow from there. 

Lance caught Keith’s eye and smiled at him. Yeah, his feelings were only going to grow from there. 

*

They had all finally made it to the common room. It had taken some dragging of the Pidge, but they had managed it. Finally. 

Lance had been deposited on the sofa, Keith sliding in right next to him, while Celeste sat on the opposite side of Lance. He realized that in a few years this would be his reality, smiling at the thought. 

“I decided we should spend some time together since we have Celeste with us,” Allura explained. “I realized that there is much that we don’t know about each other, despite living together for a few months. Is that the right Earth time measurement?” She asked, turning towards Shiro. Allura seemed please with herself when Shiro nodded. “I thought I could go first, since I am the one who called this. I thought we could talk about our families?” She carefully judged everyone’s reaction, pleased when she saw that no one looked upset at her suggestion. 

“Coran, you can obviously fill in some details,” She said, relaxing into her seat beside him. “But my mom, dad, and Coran were the best parents ever. We lived here, in this castle. It was really wonderful.” She sighed wistfully. 

“It was,” Coran agreed. “When Allura was born, it was the happiest moment of our lives. She was so small, but you could already see the resemblance between her and her biological parents.” He smiled, looking towards Allura.“It’s just a pity that she didn’t get my hair color.” He joked. 

“We should thank every god of Altea that I didn’t get your hair color,” Allura laughed, resting her head on Coran’s shoulder. Keith smiled, realizing that this was one of the first times that he had ever seen Allura act so causal, especially around the team. It was like he was seeing a whole new side to her. Allura wasn’t just their leader, she was a teenage girl around their age. She had lost her entire culture, almost her whole family. Keith figured that they had a lot more in common than he had originally thought.

“She used to break into our bed chamber and jump onto the bed to wake us up, it was scary to wake up to a war cry, no matter how many times you had heard it before,” Coran told the team. 

“Wait, sorry if I’m being rude, but I thought you were just her royal advisor?” Pidge asked, glancing between Allura and Coran. 

“I was, to the public,” Coran started to explain. “Her parents and I were in a relationship. That wasn’t that uncommon on Altea, but I don’t know if it was normal with your Earth culture. But the royals were held to different standards than regular citizens. Most of the royal staff knew, but to the public I was just an royal advisor and one of Allura’s advisors. After Larava passed, Alfor and I were a lot more focused on taking care of Allura, not the public’s opinions.” 

“Coran is just like a father to me,” Allura recounted. “The fact that my father decided to save him and I is a testament to that fact.” 

“That’s beautiful,” Hunk agreed. “My moms were always putting me and my sister before them in every way. They really wanted us to succeed.”

“Oh my god,” Lance groaned. “I miss your moms so much.” 

“Me, too!” Hunk vehemently agreed. “I miss my momma’s brownies so much. She makes the best ones! I learned to bake because of her, and I came to love engineering because of my mum.” 

“They’re the best,” Lance attested.”Remember when they took us to the pride festival and I accidentally ended up performing in one of the drag shows?” 

Hunk clapped his hands, laughing loudly. “I remember that! I think my mum still has a video of that.” 

“How did you end up in a drag show?” Keith asked, confused. 

“I accidentally walked backstage right before this group of queens were about to go on. They decided that I would make a perfect addition to their group and gave me some heels. I was a star.” 

“Sorry, but what is a drag show?” Allura asked. 

“Oh!” Lance realized that they should have explained it better to Allura and Coran. “It’s where men, who are usually gay, dress up in really elaborate dresses and outfits with incredible makeup and heels. Women do it, too. Only, they dress up as men. Then at certain events, like pride, drag queens and kings get to perform dances or routines in front of people. It’s really cool.” 

“What’s the point?” Allura questioned. “Why can’t they just wear the clothes for fun?” 

“Well, this is them wearing it for fun,” Hunk explained, clearly trying to figure out how to explain the strict western gender binary to aliens that allowed their citizens free expression, regardless of gender. “Where we lived on Earth, men were expected to wear clothes just for men and women were expected to wear clothes just for women. But some people want to be able to wear whatever they want. Other people don’t want them to and threaten them, stuff like that. It’s a part of this more complex issue of some people not wanting some people to love other people. Like my moms, for example. Because they’re both women, some people didn’t want them to get married or have kids. It’s the same way, except some people don’t want drag queens and kings to wear different clothes than they are ‘supposed’ to because it shows that they’re different. Does that make sense?” 

“Kind of?” Allura said, shaking her head. “It’s stupid. People should be allowed to wear what they want.” 

“God, what a queen,” Lance said, praising her. 

“I’m a princess,” Allura reminded him. 

“Right, sorry,” Lance apologized, not wanting to explain the pop culture meaning of “queen” to her. “God, what a princess.” 

Hunk snorted. “But the most important takeaway from this is that Lance looks great in heels.” 

“Right!” Lance agreed.

“Wait, Keith,” Allura said, grabbing his attention. “You’re gay, correct? Do you participate in this ‘drag?’” 

“Uh,” Keith said, noticing everyone’s eyes had turned to him. “I don’t. Only some gay people do.” 

“Yeah!” Lance concurred. “And I’m bi, which means I like both boys and girls, and I would probably do drag if I was still on Earth.”

“Mood,” Shiro echoed. 

“Wait!” Lance startled. “You’re not straight?” 

“Nope,” Shiro said, popping his P. “I’m gay.” 

“No way. Can you believe?” He asked, turning to Keith. 

“He’s literally my brother, I’ve known this.” 

“Well, I am shocked. Who knew that my literal idol from the Garrison is gay. We have a new reason to thank the Lord everyday.” 

“Oh my god, Lance,” Keith groaned. “You’re so dramatic.” 

“Says the curmudgeon,” Lance retorts. 

“I am not!” Keith denied. 

“You are,” Celeste admitted, Lance crossing his arms smugly. “Just a little bit.” 

“You don’t have any proof,” Keith countered. 

“Uh, my whole life?” Celeste laughed. “You always complain about how we drink all the milk, even though you’re lactose intolerant. You’re always wearing sweaters that my Abuelo would wear.” 

“The castle is drafty!” 

“Yeah, but you act like a grumpy old man sometimes,” Celeste contradicted innocently. 

Lance laughed at Keith’s dejected expression. “This is the best day of my life.” 

“Now that you mention it,” Shiro added, ignoring Lance’s ‘Oh my god, here we go,’ “Keith was always a really grumpy kid. My mother insisted that it was probably his background and that I wasn’t raising him right, but it might just be his personality.” 

“Shiro,” Keith groaned, hiding his face in a throw pillow as the team chuckled. “You can’t talk about me as a young kid. That’s horrifying.” 

“What?” Shiro teased, smiling. “You were adorable.” 

“Has he always had a mullet?” Lance asked, realizing that Shiro knew everything Lance had ever wanted to know about Keith. If he couldn’t find it out from Keith he would find it out from Shiro. 

“Hard to say,” Shiro said, more loyal to Keith than Lance realized. 

“Shiro!” Lance protested, whining. “You have to tell me!” 

“He doesn’t have to tell you anything, shut up,” Keith complained. “Shiro wouldn’t sell me out like that.” 

“We’ll see,” Shiro said ominously. Keith groaned, hiding his face in the throw pillow once again.


	6. family fun day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Family Fun day! Keith and Lance try to adjust to their developing relationship, as well as the team's teasing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is!! I'm probably going to be posting a chapter a day from here on out. Thank you for reading, hope you enjoy it! We're getting to the more exciting chapters, at least in my opinion. 
> 
> Tumblr: vld-pilots

“Family Fun day!” Celeste had yelled enthusiastically as Keith had sleepily opened Lance’s door around six in the morning. 

“What?” He breathed, yawning as he stretched. He honestly just wanted to go back to sleep. It seemed too early for this.

“We had fun yesterday, I’m calling a Family Fun day and everyone has to participate. We’re having breakfast in forty-five minutes and I’m waking you guys up so that Pa-Lance can get ready in enough time. I know how long it takes for him to get ready, trust me,” She explained. “Then we’re heading down to the pool for the day, so come to breakfast in your swimsuit with a towel.” 

“Okay,” Keith said, yawning again as he closed the door, turning back into Lance’s room. He smilied as he took in Lance’s sleeping frame. They had been sharing a bed for the past three days and Keith had finally started to get used to it. Normally, he rarely slept through the night and was often a fitful sleeper. Now? Lance smothered him throughout the night, keeping from lashing around and allowing him to sleep more peacefully. Keith had figured out that Lance was a cuddler very quickly, not that he was complaining at all. He had always been touch-starved, until he moved in with Shiro and was hugged on the daily. Then Shiro had gone to Kerberos, and then was abducted, and Keith had become a loner. 

In the past two years or so, Keith had barely been touched, other than a quick hug from Shiro here and there. He hadn’t realized how much he missed it until Lance insisted they cuddle for at least ten minutes on the first night. He had proclaimed “Don’t knock it until you try it, but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable or anything,” and Keith had agreed to try cuddling with Lance. He had loved it and now Lance was clinging onto him every night. Keith could admit that he adored it. 

Lance picked his head up from his pillow, blearily looking at Keith. “Where’d you go?” He murmured, voice still thick with sleep. Keith basically melted on the spot.

“Celeste was at the door,” Keith told him as he slipped back down next to Lance, his arms wrapping around him as Lance’s head came to rest on his chest. “We have to be at breakfast in forty minutes or something like that.”

“Ugh,” Lance voiced, his head nestling into Keith’s chest. “I just want to sleep.” 

“You can rest for a bit longer,” Keith suggested. “I’ll wake you up in like ten minutes?”

“Thanks,” He mumbled before passing out once again. 

One small problem, Keith passed out, too. They were both startled awake when Pidge practically broke down their door at 6:50. Keith bolted up in bed, Lance suffering the consequences as he fell back onto the mattress. Lance’s groan was muffled in the mattress

“What do you two fuckers think you’re doing?” She seethed, ignoring Shiro’s ‘Language!’ “You’re ruining Family Fun day already and it’s barely started!” 

“Pidge, I think they just accidentally fell asleep again,” Shiro tried to defend them. “You shouldn’t be so harsh.” 

“I’ll be as harsh as I want to,” Pidge decided. “I’ve barely slept in the past week and I get one day to have a break. Then these idiots didn’t respect that.” 

“Sorry, Pidge,” Keith apologized as he inched his way out of bed, only hesitating for a moment when Lance tried to grab his arm to convince him to stay. “Lance, we gotta get out of bed. We’re late.” 

“I don’t care,” He cried into the pillow. “I want to sleep.” 

“We gotta get up,” Keith argued, pulling on Lance’s arm to help rouse him. He turned to the crowd at the door. Apparently everyone had left breakfast to come yell at Keith and Lance. How considerate of them. “Give us like ten minutes? You can eat and everything, don’t wait up on us.” 

“You’re on thin fucking ice, Kogane,” Pidge reminded as the group exited their doorway and left the two alone. 

Keith turned back to the more pressing matter at hand: getting Lance out of bed. “Lance!” He said, raising his voice. He was met with a groan, which was Lance’s new favorite thing to do, apparently. “Come on, we have to get ready. I think Pidge might actually kill us if we aren’t eating goop in ten minutes.” 

“I don’t want to do anything, I just want to sleep some more. I’m so tired,” Lance said as he sat up. His eyes were still closed and Keith could tell that he was very tired, not just playing it up for dramatic effect. 

“You can sleep once we’re sitting by the pool, okay? I promise,” Keith said, sitting back on the bed and taking Lance’s face in his own, gently swiping his thumb on Lance’s cheekbones. “But we need to focus on getting changed.” 

“Ever the leader,” Lance grumbled as he leaned into Keith’s touch. He hummed when Keith continued. “Always being responsible.” 

“Even though I don’t really want to,” Keith admitted. He would love to just lie in bed with Lance all day. He smiled as he realized that in the future he would definitely have more opportunities to lie in with Lance. 

“I want to kill Pidge,” Lance groaned, finally opening his eyes. Keith smiled softly at him and nearly melted when Lance returned it. 

“I think it was actually Celeste’s idea,” Keith chuckled. 

“Oh, then she’s forgiven,” Lance decided, stretching as he got out of bed and walked to his closet. 

“I’m going to grab my swimsuit out of my room,” Keith said as he stood to walk to the door. 

“Aw,” Lance pretended to pout. “You want to miss out on seeing me naked and everything?” Lance wiggled his eyebrows and laughed as a blush formed on Keith’s blush. 

“I’ll get to see plenty of it in the future, I’m not racing to see it now,” Keith said, trying to distract Lance from his prominent blush. 

“Oh, you’re missing out.” Lance winked, voice playfully sultry. “Trust me.” 

“I’m leaving,” Keith vehemently decided, his face heating even more at Lance’s resounding laugh. 

*

Keith and Lance had made it to the dining hall with just a minute to spare, if Pidge’s seething glare was anything to go by. Keith knew when he had pissed someone off, especially when that person is Pidge. It’s easy to tell because she makes sure everyone knows, like Lance letting everyone know when he stubs his toe or something similarly minuscule. 

Lance and Keith sat down at the table, towards the middle, in their usual spots. Pidge’s furious gaze was locked onto them, unwavering. Lance attempted to send a small wave to her. It was met with a strengthened glare. “Charming weather we’re having.” Hunk passed the butter dish to Lance, obviously trying to break some of the underlying tension. 

“We’re in space, Hunk,” Keith reminded, his tone blank. 

“Well, this cold and dead weather that we’re having in the depth of space is really wonderful,” Hunk said through gritted teeth. Keith shrunk back, not realizing that Hunk was trying to alleviate the tension. 

“You’re right, Hunk,” Lance agreed. 

“Keith, Lance,” Allura gestured to the two of them. “Please eat. Most of us are halfway done. As you can tell, Pidge is very invested in making sure that we all have proper time to relax today.” 

“Allura’s telling you to hurry the fuck up,” Celeste translated once she finished swallowing. 

Lance rolled his eyes and started to eat, Keith doing the same. “I don’t know how cool we are in the future but I have a feeling that we aren’t that supportive of you swearing.” 

Celeste shrugged, taking another bit and then swallowing. “I guess that’s for me to know and you to find out.” 

“I hate to say it, but she’s right,” Hunk commented. “She literally knows everything. We shouldn’t mess with her.” 

“Thank you for recognizing my raw power,” Celeste joked, placing a hand over her heart. 

“Only because I am your favorite in the future, obviously,” Hunk teased. 

“Of course!” Celeste confirmed. “Dad! Papà! Eat up!” When she remembered that she should be referring to them by their first names she spoke again. “Keith, Lance! Come on!” 

They hurried to finish their breakfast before anyone else yelled at them to eat more. 

*

Much to Pidge’s relief, they finally entered the pool room. As soon as Keith had put his stuff down, he was being pushed into the pool by Lance and Celeste. He emerged from the pool, his bangs obscuring his vision and his lungs gasping for air. “Assholes!” He yelled, pushing his bangs from his forehead. Lance giggled from above him on the cement side of the pool before jumping in directly besides Keith. He sputtered as his open mouth was flooded with pool water. 

“You can’t call me an asshole!” Celeste argued before jumping in on the other side of Keith. 

“I can and I will!” Keith countered. “Especially when you push me into the pool! You guys shouldn’t be working against me. You never know when you’ll regret it. You have no idea what I’m capable of.” 

“Is that a promise or a threat?” Lance teased, coming to wrap his arms around Keith’s shoulders as Keith let out a sound of disgust. 

“You’ve lost all cuddling privileges,” Keith grunted as Lance’s arms squeezed around him before letting go. Lance swam to the other side and, oh, Keith didn’t want him to go that far. He didn’t even want Lance to really stop touching him. He was just a little irritated that he got completely soaking wet within a matter of seconds without any prior warning. Keith decided that he would remedy the situation by swimming over to Lance. Once his back was turned Keith launched himself onto his back. Lance let out a noise of surprise before his arms locked onto Keith’s that were dangling around Lance’s chest. Keith hummed into his ear as he started to lead them around the pool, just enjoying the water. 

As Keith grew older, he had started to enjoy just wadding in the pool. Just floating around or talking with someone had started to be so relaxing. It was nice to just float around, specifically when he was clinging onto Lance. 

“Hey,” Lance spoke up quietly, tilting his head so his lips were brushing against Keith’s ear. “You aren’t really mad at us for throwing you in, are you? ‘Cause I’m sorry, I thought it would be okay but I obviously misjudged. I didn’t mean to overstep or anything.” 

Keith smiled, touched that Lance had decided to address it. Keith wasn’t actually mad, just a little upset that it had happened. But he knew that he didn’t mean to make Keith uncomfortable or anything, even more so that Lance had explicitly apologized. “You’re fine. I was just surprised.” 

“Okay,” Lance said, continuing to float them around the pool. Keith caught Pidge’s eye from where she was talking with Celeste and Hunk, Pidge raising her eyebrow in a suggestive manner at his position around Lance. Keith flushed, pointedly looking away from her. “I’m glad. But seriously, I’m sorry for assuming. If I ever do something that makes you uncomfortable just let me know. I have a bad habit of assuming that people are as okay with certain things that I am, even though they might not be.” 

“You’re fine, don’t worry.” Keith tightened his grip around Lance’s shoulders, his heart fluttering when Lance tightened his grip on Keith’s forearms in responde. He tilted his head into his own shoulder, not wanting Lance to see him smiling goofily over such a simple interaction. Unfortunately for Keith, he was unlucky enough to be facing Pidge. This was catastrophic for Keith because Pidge managed to catch the very look that he was trying to hide. With Pidge being Pidge, she couldn’t leave him in fucking peace and decided to nudge Hunk, getting him to look at his expression before Keith had the time to change it. Hunk managed to catch the tail end of Keith’s facial expression, his face lighting up. Keith sighed, knowing that this wouldn’t end well for him. 

“Hey Lance, Keith!” Hunk shouted from the other side of the pool. He managed to startle Lance, causing him to turn to face Hunk more. “Getting cozy over there?” 

“So cozy!” Lance grinned back. “You should be jealous.” 

“I don’t know, I’d have to ask Keith that,” Hunk spoke. “Should I be jealous that you get to cuddle Lance and not me?” 

Keith shrugged, laughing when Lance let out an offended gasp and Hunk erupted in giggles across the pool. Lance floated them over to where the rest of the group was hanging out in the water. Shiro was sitting on the side of the pool, his legs idly kicking the water back and forth. Allura was standing in the waist deep water next to Shiro, her attention captured by the exchange between the other four. Celeste had just come up from the water, her eye catching on Keith and Lance coming towards the others. Coran was reading by the poolside, uninterested in the unfolding scene before him. Lance pried Keith’s arms from his shoulders, ending with Keith splashing into the water once again. His head popped above water to the end of Lance’s sentence. 

“-come on, Hunk!” Lance stretched his arms out in the direction of Hunk.

Hunk rolled his eyes before walking into Lance’s outstretched arms, crouching down so that he would be pressed up against Lance’s chest with Lance’s arms securely around him. Keith knew that he shouldn’t be jealous, especially since he knew that Lance and Hunk were strictly platonic. But Keith still felt a little sad that Hunk had stolen his spot. Well, he didn’t feel that upset. Anyone could touch Lance, as long as Lance was comfortable with it. But still, Keith was a little jealous, something that Pidge apparently picked up on, her eyes gleaming as she noticed Keith gazing at Lance. 

“Hey, Lance,” She started, ignoring Keith’s desperately waving his hands in an attempt to get her to stop. “I think Keith is a little sad that you dumped him.” 

“Trust me, he is,” Celeste chimed in. 

Keith would not allow them to slander his good name. “Am not!” 

“Da-Keith, you’re a self-proclaimed cuddle-bug. Papà is always clinging to you at your request.” Celeste was a traitor. 

“Aw!” Lance cooed. “We sound so disgusting!” 

Celeste vehemently nodded her head. “You guys are! Everyone hates it!” 

“I would never,” Keith said, crossing his arms and upturning his nose. 

“Buddy, you sound touch-starved,” Hunk offered. 

“He is,” Shiro groaned. “Thank God we have Lance now, I am so tired of being woken up at two in the space-morning because Keith needs a hug.” 

Keith felt his ears burn. “Hey! You said you would always be there for me! That includes giving me hugs!”

“‘Shiro, why do girls keep looking at me weirdly?’ and ‘Shiro! What does it mean if I get hard looking at a guy’s ass!’” Shiro imitated thirteen Keith. “That is not what I signed up for.” 

“I told you that in confidence!” Keith sputtered as his teammates laughed around him.

 

“Don’t worry, Keith,” Lance winked. “You can always come to me for help. For anything.” 

“Ew, gross,” Pidge made a retching noise as everyone but her and Keith laughed. 

*

They continued to lazily float around before breaking for lunch, all of them wrapping themselves in towels and walking back to the elevators, then to the dining hall. After eating a nutritious meal of green goop, they headed back to the pool.

“Keith, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but your hair actually looks really good right now,” Lance said, getting Keith’s attention. Keith had insisted on wearing sunglasses as he laid on a flamingo floatie they had found at an alien outpost. Who knew that aliens were also strangely obsessed with pink flamingos, just like humans. But the sunglasses were pointless, as the pool was inside. But Keith didn’t care. 

Keith pushed his glasses up to the crown of his head, shooting Lance a unimpressed look. “What do you like about it?” 

“I don’t know, when it’s wet it looks less like a shaggy mess and more like a mess but with a purpose.” Lance tried to explain. 

“That literally makes no sense,” Pidge cut in, Keith nodding in agreeance. 

“Literally no one asked you, bitch,” Lance stuck his tongue out. When Pidge faked an offended gasp, Lance laughed. “Kidding, love you.” 

“Love you, too, you fucking weirdo,” Pidge laughed.

“Keeeeeeith,” Lance whined after a few minutes. 

“What?” Keith sighed, sitting up once again on his flamingo. Lance was sure that he was glaring at him behind his shades. 

“I’m bored.” 

“Then do something entertaining. Read a book like Pidge and Shiro, or you could talk to somebody.” 

“I’m talking to you, aren’t I?” 

“Talk to someone else, I’m trying to relax.” 

Lance huffed, kicking his legs to float close to Keith. “Do you think we could both fit on there?” 

“Do you really want to try?” 

“Yeah,” Lance admitted, already pushing his pool noodle to the side. 

Keith sighed, throwing his legs over the side of the floaty. “Okay. But I hope you know that you’re fucking with my rest right now.” 

“We’ll be able to rest even better together!” 

Keith shook his head, laughing, as he scooted over. Lance placed his hands flat on the flamingo, trying to find the best place to push up on. “Maybe I should pull you up.” Keith said as he realized that Lance would probably tip them over if he tried to climb onto the floaty. 

“That might work best,” Lance admitted, sliding his hands into Keith’s waiting palms. 

“Uh, this may be a little awkward, but you should probably stand in between my legs, that way our weight is more centered so we don’t tip,” Keith suggested, spreading his legs so that Lance could move between them. 

“That’s some bullshit excuse right there!” Pidge yelled. 

“Pidge, shut up, they’re just trying to figure it out,” Hunk rebuked. Keith tightened his grip as he pulled Lance up, ending up against the neck of the flamingo floaty, Lance’s chest on his. 

Shiro put his book down on he watched Keith and Lance adjust on the flamingo. “If they can both fit on that flamingo then both Rose and Jack could fit on that piece of driftwood.” 

“We been knew,” Allura interjected. 

“Wait,” Pidge said, shocked, turning her gaze from Lance and Keith to Allura. “You know Titanic? And Earth slang? Since when?” 

“Lance once woke me up in the middle of the night because he was very angry about the ending of this ‘Titanic.’” Allura explained. “I picked up the Earth slang overtime.” 

“That makes sense,” Hunk concluded, watching as the flamingo tipped, sending Keith and Lance straight into the water. Lance emerged, dragging a coughing Keith up with him.

“How do they act in your time?” Allura asked, turning to Celeste. 

“They’re more serious than they are now,” Celeste starts. “But everyone is. Papà is a lot more serious, but in a mature way. Dad is a lot more open and cuddly. I miss them a lot. I miss everyone a lot.” 

Shiro placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a soft smile. “I’m sure you’ll be back soon. We’re be your substitutes for right now.”

Celeste laughed as Lance and Keith pulled themselves out of the pool, puddles of water forming on the ground as they walked towards the others sitting in the pool chairs. 

“Did you go for a swim?” Pidge asked, her eyes alight with mischief.

“I just want some fucking cookies,” Lance answered, reaching for Pidge’s towel. 

*

The team decided to watch a movie while Celeste and Hunk bake cookies, all except for Keith and Lance. Lance insisted on showering before doing anything else, which Keith agreed with. They both headed to the communal showers, joking and laughing the whole way there. But there was one flaw to this plan, one that Keith did not notice until they were right outside the showers. 

It was just going to be them in the showers, only them and their bodies. Which would not have clothes on, something Keith was probably too gay to be dealing with at this exact moment. He flushed, hoping that Lance wouldn’t realize where his thoughts undoubtedly went. 

Keith and Lance placed their respective shower caddies down, grabbing a towel from the rack. Lance wasted no time in pulling his shirt over his head. Keith quickly averted his gaze, his cheeks burning even more than before. Keith hastily pulled his own shirt over his head, hands moving to fumble with his swim trunks. Lance was already shucking off his own trunks when he noticed the expression on Keith’s face. 

“Buddy, you okay?” Lance asked. Keith meet his gaze before realizing that Lance’s eyes were sliding up and down his body. Did his eyes deceive him, or was Lance checking him out? 

“Yeah, fine,” Keith avoided his eyes again, kicking his pants off as he stepped into the shower stall to turn on the water. 

“Your face looks like a tomato,” Lance commented, copying Keith’s movements and turning on his water. 

“Aw, thank you,” Keith smiled, voice dripping in sarcasm. Lance laughed. 

“Seriously, what’s bothering you?” 

“Promise you won’t laugh?” Keith asked, gauging Lance’s reaction. Lance nodded and mimed zipping his lips. “It kind of hit me that I am attracted to you? Like a day ago. And now we’re standing practically naked next to each other.” 

“Oh,” Lance said. “You’re right. We’re currently naked. And right next to each other.” It sounded like the reality of the situation was hitting Lance. Keith settled on nodding, ducking his head and trying to hide behind his bangs. 

“Well. . .” Lance trailed off. 

“Well?” Keith repeated. 

“It doesn’t have to mean anything. We can just shower and pretend the room isn’t filled with our unresolved sexual tension.” 

Keith let out a light snort. “Sounds like a plan.” 

Keith suffered a cold shower, ducking out the communal showers as soon as he could. He made his way out to the common lounge, settling onto the couch. He smiled when Lance appeared, handing him a cookie he had stolen from Hunk.


	7. spa nights & first kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team bonds even more, especially over all the romantic things that Keith and Lance do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is my favorite chapter in the whole fic?? Enjoy!!

Keith groaned at the alarm clock that continued to blare through the morning air. He pushed at Lance’s shoulder, or what he assumed was his shoulder, hoping to wake him up and make him actually turn off his alarm. Lance groaned in response, finally sitting up sleepily. He grabbed his tablet off the nightstand, turning his alarm off before turning around and snuggling into Keith’s chest. Keith allowed Lance to cuddle into his chest, doing his best to ignore him when Lance mumbled out a, “You know we still have to get up, right?” 

“Nope!” denied Keith, pulling Lance tighter against his chest, smiling when Lance laughed lightly. 

“Celeste will come and drag us out of bed,” Lance reminded him. 

“Why do I have a feeling we’ll be saying the same exact thing in a few years?” Keith questioned, suddenly realizing that they would be parents in just a few short years. It seemed too much. In an short while, Keith would have a family. More than what he already had. A few months ago, it seemed impossible, something that Keith didn’t even dare dream of. 

“You’re right,” Lance said, the same thing probably dawning on him, too. “Wack.” 

“You’re seriously referencing a meme during this very serious conversation?” Keith laughed. 

“You know that meme?” Lance asked, his head shooting off Keith’s chest in surprise, a huge grin present on his face. 

Keith nodded, laughing at Lance’s pleasantly surprised expression. “The Eric Andre one, right?” 

“I think I love you,” Lance joked, his voice sounding too dreamy too be just a joke. He blushed a second later when he realized what he had admitted. Keith’s eyes widened. He sat up quickly, basically stradling Keith at this point, which was not helping Keith calm down in anyway. Quite the opposite, actually. “I mean - I was - it was a joke!” 

“It’s fine,” Keith’s eyes softened as his hands came to rest on Lance’s hips. “I know what you meant.” 

Lance groaned, his hands came to up hide his face. “I can’t believe I said that. We haven’t even kissed yet.” 

“We can kiss,” Keith suggested. He wasn’t that bothered by the confession. He knew that one day, they would be completely in love with each other. Knowing that, he started to reevaluate how he felt about Lance. While he wouldn’t say that he was in love with him, he was definitely somewhere around there. Keith knew he was more than capable of falling in love with Lance, possibly too quickly, if there was such a thing. “If that would make you feel better, of course.” 

“Of course,” Lance mumbled, his hands still covering his face. “Is this weird? I feel like this is weird, talking about it and everything.” 

“I guess,” Keith agreed, not sure what he should say. He’s never done this before. “But it’s weirder to have a teenager appear on your ship, full of space lions, claiming to be your daughter from the future. In comparison, this is nothing.” 

“I guess you’re right,” Lance decided. His hands slipped down his face, revealing the blue eyes that Keith truly adored. 

“So, you wanna kiss?” Keith asked, raising his eyebrows. His fingers had taken to tapping out a slow, lazy rhythm on Lance’s hip. 

Lance shrugged, removing his hands completely from his face as he leaned forward. “We probably have morning breath.” 

“It’s not like we’re going to be doing anything crazy,” Keith argued, heart rate picking up as Lance placed his forearms by Keith’s head, resting his weight on them. His head was inches from Keith’s, both of them just staring into each other’s eyes. It was surprisingly intimate, and Keith almost felt like he shouldn’t be experiencing something so personal, but Keith couldn’t find it in himself to look away.

“You’re right,” Lance had lowered his voice, his breath fanned against Keith’s lips. Keith’s gaze slipped from Lance’s eyes and found its way to Lance’s lips. Keith wondered how it would feel to kiss Lance, figuring that he would probably find out soon. 

Keith’s fingers gripped Lance’s hips a little more tightly, tugging Lance up a little higher so that his face was at the same level as Keith’s. Lance let out a small noise of surprise as he was pulled forward but quickly recovered. 

“So, who’s gonna kiss who?” Lance whispered, his eyes stuck on Keith’s lips. 

“I’m good with whatever,” Keith answered, chuckling when Lance rolled his eyes. 

“Of course you’re no help,” Lance muttered, smiling fondly at him. Keith liked this. He like how easy everything seemed to be with Lance, even in the more awkward moments. They could still laugh and joke. 

“Maybe I would be more helpful if you just kissed me,” Keith teased, biting his lip coyly. 

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Lance giggled. 

Keith shrugged, well, as much as he could while laying down with a person on top of him. “Might as well try it.” 

“Might as well,” Lance mirrored his shrug and before Keith knew it, he was being kissed. It was a little wet, as all first kisses were, and Keith couldn’t help but notice how much stronger Lance smelled up close. He smelled like cinnamon and homemade laundry detergent. Lance pulled back for a moment, clearly assessing how Keith felt about the kiss. Keith decided to not let him worry too much as he placed a hand on Lance’s neck, pulling him forward so that their lips could meet again. Lance sighed happily into the kiss, one of his hands coming to run through Keith’s hair. It was basically perfect, until the pounding on the door sounded. 

“Open up! Breakfast is in fifteen minutes and I know that you know that!” Celeste yelled through the door. 

Keith groaned, letting his head drop back onto the pillow as Lance sighed above him. “I’m opening this door in five seconds! Hope you’re decent!” 

“Just come in, Celeste,” Lance yelled back, already moving to sit up and move off of Keith. Keith couldn’t help that he felt a little sad when Lance’s touch disappeared from his lap and chest. But he still made the effort to sit up, he wanted to appear as innocent as could in front of Celeste. 

“Good morning!” She announced, walking over to their bed, moving to sit in between the two of them. “Hunk said that breakfast will be ready soon and Allura wanted me to tell you that we’re going over new diplomatic developments after. So get ready and prepared to face the day!” 

She then stood up and literally twirled out of the room, leaving them alone. “I should wash my face,” Lance decided, standing up and padding towards the bathroom. Keith followed in his wake. 

*

Breakfast was still green goop, like it always was. Lance sighed as he pushed his spoon through the goo, dreaming of his mom’s pancakes and bacon. 

“So, Keith, did you sleep well last night?” Pidge asked, locking her attention onto Keith.

“Uh,” Keith started, clearly confused by Pidge’s out of character question. “Yes?”

“I was just wondering since you seem to be sleeping with Lance.” 

“It’s the most obvious solution. Celeste is in my room, it made sense for me to sleep in Lance’s room since I needed somewhere to stay.” 

“Yeah, that makes sense. I was just surprised since you weren’t complaining about anything,” Pidge reasoned, taking a bit of her goop. Lance just ended up looking confusedly between the two of them. 

“Why would I be complaining?” Keith asked, irritation leaking into his voice. When did Keith become so snappy and protective of him? Lance wasn’t going to lie, it was kind of hot. 

“Because you almost always complain when Lance is involved?” Pidge claimed, raising an eyebrow at Keith’s defensive tone and attitude. 

“No, I don’t,” Keith huffed. 

“Buddy, not to be that person, but you kind of do,” Shiro interjected. “For the first few weeks up here, I was worried that you two would never get along. Apparently, I couldn’t have been more wrong.” Everyone laughed at the table besides Keith, even Lance chuckled a little. It was weird knowing about his future, but he was reassured to know that everything worked out well in the end, if Celeste’s word was anything to go by.

“But Lance and I have gotten along fine! I don’t know why you guys expect me to be complaining. Lance complains about me, too, pick on him instead,” Keith grumbled, crossing his arms and leaning back in the chair. Lance giggled, imitating him by crossing his arms. 

“Point is, you guys used to basically be rivals, yet now you’re sleeping in the same room without complaining? Wild.” Pidge restated. 

“More like wack.” Lance agreed, nodding his head. Pidge nodded in agreeance, muttering a playful apology. 

“Why are you such a meme-loving fuck?” Keith asked, openly smiling at Lance for the first time since breakfast started. Lance shrugged, smiling back at Keith, adoring the way his smile softened once he realized Lance was smiling back at him. 

*

“But Pidge! You’ve literally been working on the time machine all day long. You need to rest. Come do a spa night with us!” Lance begged, draping himself all over Pidge’s work station in a last ditch effort to make her pay full attention to him. 

“We have to get Celeste home as soon as possible! We don’t know what kind of effects this could be having on her or us in the long term,” Pidge dissuaded, elbowing Lance out of the way as she tried to connect two wires together. 

“Please, just take a fucking break for once,” Lance whined, elbowing her back the moment he cried. “You can just hang out with us and get your chill on, and then I promise we won’t bother anymore tonight or tomorrow morning.” 

“Promise?” She said, looking up the moment he said “won’t bother.” 

“Promise,” Lance assured her. 

“Fine, let me just finish this really quick,” Pidge muttered. Lance immediately got out of the way, stepping back from the table and instead poking around Hunk’s side of the room. 

“Hunk!” He exclaimed enthusiastically. He knew that Hunk would be much easier to convince, so he left him for last. Coran had taken a quick “Do you want to paint your nails again?” and he knew that Hunk would probably be the same. He was always on Lance’s back about not taking the proper time he needed for self-care, so Lance knew that Hunk would always agree whenever self-care was involved. “Do you want to come to our spa night? Everyone else is going to be there.” 

“Sure! Give me five minutes and I’ll meet you guys in the living room!” Hunk said, beaming at Lance from behind his current project. He was trying to find a way to make sure that they could all survive in their lions if they ever crashed on an abandoned planet, even if the lion was damaged. After the past few scares, he had been very motivated to producing one. Lance was proud of Hunk, but he could also sleep easier at night knowing that they would soon have kits to help them stay alive, even if their lions weren’t working. 

Lance made his way out of the room, trusting that Hunk and Pidge would stay true to their word and come whenever they finished up their projects. As he walked in the hallway, Lance realized that Pidge would probably finish her time travel project soon, meaning Celeste would be going back to her own timeline very shortly. Lance absentmindedly frowned, not wanting her to leave just yet. She had only been here for less than a week, yet she had already changed the entire dynamic of the team so quickly. The minute that they found out that older Keith and Lance were in love, Lance had realized that he had been drowning in all these feelings he never realized could be considered romantic. He had always loved his friends and his family, he didn’t notice that thinking “Wow, Keith looks really hot today,” and “I wonder what he tastes like,” weren’t completely platonic things that everybody had thought about their “platonic” friends. Of course, he had had crushes on girls before, but never to this oblivious extent. All it had taken was for Celeste to show up for Lance to realize that he was practically in love with this guy. 

And wait, what? In love? Yes, Lance had told Keith that morning that he thought he loved him, but that was different. Loving someone and being in love with someone were two different things. Lance loved Hunk, he adored him, but that didn’t mean he was in love with him. Being in love meant that he had to have such strong romantic feelings for somebody, for Keith, that he felt almost a whole other level of love. 

Lance was overwhelmed. Since when did he feel this strongly for Keith? Lance kept walking, somehow finding himself outside of Shiro’s room. He paused for a moment outside his door, chewing on his lip as he tried to decide if he should knock or not. In the end, he didn’t have to. Shiro opened the door, obviously taken aback when he saw Lance standing right outside of it. 

“Lance,” He said, trying to not show his surprise. “Can I help you?” 

“Um, this may sound weird, but can I talk to you about something personal?” Lance asked, fiddling with the hem of his jacket as he tried to avoid looking Shiro in the eyes. 

“Of course,” Shiro smiled, stepping back from the doorway and opening his door even wider. “Would you like to come in?” 

Lance nodded, meekly walking into Shiro’s room. It looked almost like the other paladins’, except it was much larger and had more furniture. Lance took a seat at the small table, absentmindedly chewing on his finger nail. He knew it was a nervous habit of his, one his mom despised. He hastily pulled his finger out of his mouth as Shiro sat down across from him. 

“What’s on your mind?” Shiro asked softly. Lance realized in that moment that Shiro was going to be an incredible father one day. He kind of already knew that, especially since Shiro had raised Keith since he was ten, but it really hit Lance then. Shiro was selfless and caring, and he would make an incredible father one day. He didn’t judge either. Everyone knew that they could go to Shiro for advice, no matter what the problem. Lance tried to keep that mind. 

“It’s about Keith and I,” Lance admitted, figuring that there was no reason to beat around the bush. Hunk and Pidge were probably finishing up their projects right now and would be in the living room in a matter of minutes, with no Lance to be found. “I just realized that I think I might be in love with him? Which is kind of weird, because I just realized that I liked him not even a week ago, and now I think I’m in love with him? That’s too fast, right?” 

“Possibly,” Shiro responded. “But it might not be. You’ve known each other for a year, that’s plenty of time for you to fall in love, even if you didn’t notice you were. People fall in love at different rates than others, why should you judge yourself or someone else for how quickly they fall in love? It isn’t a contest, there is not guideline to falling in love.” 

“I guess,” Lance mumbled, still worried about him falling for Keith too fast. 

“You don’t have to label anything right away or rush into things,” Shiro reminded him. “You have the rest of your life to figure it out. I know Keith won’t pressure you into anything, he respects your space and privacy. Allow yourself to figure it out, Lance. You got the time.” 

“Has this ever happened to you?” Lance found himself asking, blurting his question out before even taking the time to wonder if it was too personal to ask. 

“A future child of mine coming back from the future and accidentally revealing that she is the daughter of me and my supposed rival but more recently best friend?” Shiro recited, an eyebrow raised. Lance let out a soft chuckle, only now realizing how literally Shiro could have taken his question. “No, I can’t say that it has.” 

“You know that’s not what I meant,” Lance giggled as Shiro smiled jokingly towards him. “I mean, have you ever noticed that you felt a lot more than you thought you did?” 

“Ah, that’s what you meant,” Shiro joked. “It has.”

“Did you freak out like me?” 

“Kind of,” Shiro disclosed. “I found myself caught in some intense feelings for my best friend when I was seventeen. I loved him, obviously, you don’t consider someone your partner in everything for five years and not love them. But I was like you, I hadn’t realized how I truly felt, how much I truly felt, until it smacked me in the face oneday. I saw him kissing another guy in our dorm room. It felt like my heart had been wrenched out of my chest.” 

“Wait, you like guys?” Lance asked, surprised. He felt like he should have known that about Shiro, especially since he had lived with him for about a year and had considered him a hero for years longer. 

“Yeah,” Shiro laughed. “I’m gay. It was kind of hush-hush at the Garrison, they didn’t want to appear too controversial with one of their top pilots ‘flaunting’ his sexuality all over the place.” 

“That’s bullshit,” Lance huffed. 

“Right?” 

“What happened with you and your roommate?” Lance was very curious about what happened to Shiro and his roommate.

“Well, I talked to Adam -”

“Wait!” Lance interrupted. “Not Professor Adam?” 

“Yeah, that Professor Adam,” Shiro chuckled, scratching the back of his neck as Lance started to slightly freak out. “We talked and I ended up confessing right there on the spot. He was probably still reeling from the fact that I figured out that he was gay, but I don’t even think he could have even prepared for what I was about to tell him. I spilled my guts, telling him practically everything. I was jealous after seeing him kiss that guy, I usually stared too long whenever he was quickly changing his shirt. I told him about how awful I felt, knowing that I was probably making him uncomfortable. I think I managed to ramble for about five minutes and offer to change rooms when he finally leaned in and kissed me.” 

“No way!” Lance exclaimed. “But what about that other guy?”

“Apparently Adam was trying to get over me and thought that hooking up with some guy was going to help that,” Shiro explained. 

“That’s so dramatic, oh my god,” Lance muttered. “Did you guys officially get together?” 

“Yeah,” Shiro said, a sad look on his face. 

“When did you guys break up?” Lance asked, guessing from the expression on Shiro’s face that they must have broken up at some point. 

“Right before I left for Kerberos. I don’t even know if he knows I’m alive. Keith told me that he became really reclusive after the Garrison covered up my death. I don’t know what he knows or what he believes,” Shiro sniffled. It was one of the only times that Lance had seen him so openly sad. “He didn’t want to watch me disappear for another year. I understood that, but I couldn’t stay behind.” 

“Why not?” Lance asked, confused. Why would Shiro leave someone he obviously loved so deeply? Why was he so desperate to go on the Kerberos mission?

“I -” Shiro started, cut off by Celeste opening the door to Shiro’s room.

“Oh! You guys are in here,” She noted. “Dad was freaking out. Nobody had seen you guys in like fifteen minutes and apparently Lance never misses spa nights.” 

“Sorry,” Shiro responded, standing up and pushing his chair in. Lance did the same. “Must of lost track of time while we were talking.” 

“Come on! I want to get started! This is going to be so much fun!” She gestured for them to follow her and Lance couldn’t help picking up on her infectious joy, despite the serious conversation he had been having only seconds before. It appeared like Shiro felt the same. They followed her out of Shiro’s room, leaving the tension for another time, and walked towards the rest of the team in the lounge. 

*

Shiro, Celeste, and Lance entered the lounge to find the rest of team Voltron already there. 

“Hey,” Lance addressed Keith. 

Keith smiled, looking up at Lance from his perch on the couch. “Hey. Did you have fun talking with Shiro?”

“For the most part,” Lance affirmed. He walked around the couch, deciding to sit right next to Keith. Lance placed his arm behind Keith, trying to not internally freak out as Keith snuggled into his side. 

“What were you guys talking about? If you don’t mind telling me, of course,” Keith said, closing his eyes as he leaned against Lance’s chest. He must be tired, they had all been busy today. Celeste and Keith had been hanging out with Allura, and while Keith enjoyed hanging out with both of them, Lance knew that he got easily exhausted from social interaction after a while. Lance was kind of surprised that he was still going. He unconsciously rubbed Keith’s knee with his hand, humming as he tried to think of an answer to Keith’s question. 

“Mostly you,” Lance professed, laughing slightly when Keith’s eyes shot open. 

Keith sat up, Lance whining when his hand fell off his knee and his side lost Keith’s warmth. “Shiro, what did you tell him? Did you get out the baby photos?” 

Shiro laughed, getting distracted from his conversation with Allura “I didn’t. Do you want me to?” 

“Yes!” Celeste interjected before Keith could conjure a response. “Please! He never lets us see any of his pictures before the Garrison!” 

“All in favor of Shiro showing us Keith’s baby photos say ‘aye!’” Lance addressed the room, laughing when everyone but Keith responded with an enthusiastic “Aye!” 

“Shiro, don’t you fucking dare,” Keith threatened as Shiro started to walk back to his room. 

Shiro shrugged, a shit-eating grin on his face. “Shiro, I demand you show us those photos,” Allura ordered. 

“I have to listen to her! She’s the Princess of Altea!” Keith made a dash for Shiro, attempting to jump the side of the couch and tackle him as he started to speed-walk towards his room. Lance grabbed Keith by the waist, pulling him tight against his chest to keep from tackling Shiro. Keith groaned, relaxing against Lance’s chest as he accepted his fate. 

“You don’t really mind, do you?” Lance whispered in his ear, Keith’s fingers idly playing with Lance’s. 

“I guess not, I just know I’ll be embarrassed,” Keith admitted, closing his eyes again. Lance was going to make sure that he went to bed on time tonight. The night before they had stayed up playing Altean monopoly. Keith had won, but he had cheated! Lance didn’t know him, but he knew that he had cheated. Nobody could be that good at monopoly. 

Lance hummed thoughtfully, tightening his arms around Keith as he too closed his eyes. “I’m sure everyone will just find you adorable. Plus, I’m sure Shiro will be super excited to finally embarrass you, just like older siblings are supposed.” 

Keith groaned, grumbling about how, “He’s already done that plenty of times. Stop defending him.” Lance just chuckled, sleepily pulling Keith higher on his chest. Keith let his head drop past Lance’s shoulder, both of their heads laying next to each other. 

Two minutes later, Shiro burst into the room. “I found them!” 

“Where did you even get that? You were kidnapped by the fucking Galra, why did you have my baby book?” 

“I may have, uh, packed it with me for the Kerberos mission,” Shiro admitted as he sat down in the middle of the couch so that everyone could peer over and see the book. “We don’t need to question how I still have it.” 

“I can’t believe you,” Keith sighed, sitting up when Lance patted his thigh. He moved off of Lance, waiting for him to take a place closer to Shiro and the baby book before leaning on him again. 

“Oh my god, Keith! You were so cute,” Hunk gushed, smiling at Keith from the opposite side of Shiro. 

“He’s still cute, Hunk! Use the proper tense here,” Lance pretended to scold him, cooing as Shiro flipped the page. 

“Lance, shut up,” Keith begged, his cheeks flushed pink. 

“That’s Grandma!” Celeste shrieked. “She literally looks the same now! No way!” 

Keith rushed to peer at the picture she was pointing at, noticing it was the one of his mom holding him. “I find my mom?” 

“Yeah! Except she doesn’t actually look like that, it’s a disguise she uses when on Earth,” Celeste commented, flipping to the next page of baby photos. 

“Is she nice?” Keith asked, unsure of how to ask all the questions that he has had to keep to himself his whole life. “What is she like?” 

“Yeah, she’s the best.” Celeste smiled at him. “You guys get along really well. Although, Papà and Grandma are best friends. They’re constantly teasing each other and once they had a full out prank war. It was crazy. Dad’s hair accidentally got dyed pink for a few days and Papà’s hair ended up really frizzy and poofy because Grandma put some stuff into their shampoo. It was wild.” 

“We’re going to be cool adults!” Lance rejoiced, smiling up at Keith. “I was so worried that we were going to be super lame.” 

“What else do the paladins do in the future?” Allura asked, her attention no longer focused on Keith’s baby photos. In fact, everyone else was now completely focused on Celeste. 

“Well, one time Dad and Papà got trapped in the pantry for a day and we thought they got kidnapped by aliens. When we finally realized where they were, they had eaten most of our supply of cookies. I was so pissed, we weren’t going to be able to get more cookies for months. I hope you two think about your actions now that you know what type of pain you put me through.” 

“Hmm,” Lance considered. “No promises.” Celeste whined, pouting her lips. 

“What else do Lance and Keith get themselves trapped in?” Hunk asked, handing Celeste half of his cookie. 

“One time Papà was trying to seduce Dad but ended up accidentally walking into a diplomatic meeting between the top five leaders of the Voltron Coalition. My dad had tricked him and told him he would be in the dining hall, where everyone was meeting. Auntie Allura screamed so loudly, we were laughing for days.” 

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I did that,” Keith said, laughing. “Do you know why I did?” 

“I think Papà did something to piss Dad off, I don’t really know,” Celeste admitted. 

“Better not piss me off, then,” Keith directed towards Lance. 

“Did I get him back?” Lance questioned, hoping that his future self had gotten some sort of revenge. 

“I can’t tell you, it might give you ideas,” Celeste teased coyly. 

“Has Shiro ever done anything crazy?” Pidge snickering when Shiro gave her a look.

“Yeah, him and his husband always have food contests. It kills Uncle Hunk to see his kitchen so mistreated. Sometimes their kids join in. The whole job is to see who can make the tastiest dish with the food that’s about to expire in the pantry. We have to eat the winner’s dish for dinner.” Celeste explained, smiling at the memory. “We’ve actually had some really good meals because of that game.” 

“I can’t believe,” Pidge said. “How does Shiro get a husband? We’re in space!” 

Celeste shrugged, smirking. “No clue.” 

“She literally holds the answers to our future,” Hunk moaned. “And we don’t get to know the secrets.” 

“You’re right!” sang Celeste, laughing when Allura shot her a look. 

“Can you at least tell us who gets married? I don’t want to be lonely all my life!” Hunk wailed. 

Celeste shrugged, thinking it over for a moment. “I guess so, I don’t think any harm can come out of it. Everyone gets married except for Coran and Pidge.”

“Ah, yes. I don’t ever really see myself staying with one person for too long. Not after Alfor and Lavara.” Coran admitted. 

“Who knew that Coran was a player,” Pidge muttered, snorting when Allura answered an “I did.” 

“One time we decided to adopt some fish and Hunk’s spouse brought them into the lounge, spent all this time setting up this huge tank. We were all obsessed with the new pets, but then we were attacked. The fish didn’t survive the battle. My little sister cried for two days before she could move on.” 

“Oh my god, that’s tragic,” Lance said, already mourning the loss of the future fish. He came to a sudden realization. “Guys, we haven’t done any spa night things yet!” 

“I’ll go grab the popcorn and cookies!” Hunk offered, already making his way to the kitchen. 

“Let me get my nail polish and hair things!” Allura ran back to her room. 

Lance stood, extending his hand to Keith. “Would you like to accompany me to my room to grab my face masks?” 

“Why not?” Keith agreed, taking his hand. 

“I’ll keep showing Celeste your baby photos,” Shiro said, much to Keith’s displeasure. 

Lance held Keith’s hand as they walked down the hallway, their hands swinging between them. He pulled Keith into his room, shutting the door and pressing Keith up against it. After being pushed against the door, Keith was now around Lance’s height, something that Lance really liked. Lance made sure Keith was well supported, that way he wouldn’t start to slip down the door. “Not gonna lie,” Lance murmured, leaning in closer to Keith’s face as his right hand came to cradle his face. “Part of the reason I wanted you to come with me is so that I could kiss you again.” 

“Kiss me, then,” Challenged Keith, his eyes permanently stuck watching Lance’s lips. “We only have a few minutes before they become suspicious.” 

Lance didn’t need him to say it twice. He leaned in, brushing his lips against Keith’s, slightly sighing as Keith opened his mouth. Lance’s tongue darted out, pressing against Keith’s tongue. Keith gasped, allowing Lance more access, which Lance immediately took advantage of. Keith’s right arm wrapped around Lance’s waist, tugging him impossibly closer as his left hand disappeared into Lance’s hair. 

Lance licked into his mouth, his right leg slipping in between Keith’s legs as his left arm wrapped around Keith’s waist, supporting him even more than he had before. Keith pulled back, panting as he rested his head against the wall. “We should probably quit while we’re ahead, right?” 

Lance responded by trailing kisses down his jawline, kissing his neck tantalizingly slow and starting to suck faint marks onto Keith’s neck, smirking as Keith’s breathing quickened. “We could do that,” Lance said in between kisses. 

“We could,” Keith echoed, closing his eyes and allowing Lance to create more marks on his neck. He was already dreading everyone’s reactions. Shiro would undoubtedly tease him and then corner him into another safe sex talk when nobody else was looking. “We should.” Keith insisted, realizing that they had been gone for dozens of minutes longer than they should have been. Someone was going to be knocking on the door any seconds now. 

Lance sighed, pressing one more kiss onto Keith’s neck. He quickly pressed another kiss to his mouth before carefully setting Keith properly back onto the ground. Lance winked at him before making his way towards the bathroom to retrieve his face masks. He emerged a moment later, holding a basket full of jars and brushes. “Shall we?” 

Keith nodded, holding the door open for him. They couldn’t hold hands, due to Lance holding the basket of products, on the way back to the group, despite Keith’s want to. 

“They’re back! Only,” Allura pretended to check her watch as they walked into the lounge.   
“Only thirty minutes later than expected! Gone for a grand total of forty-five minutes.” Pidge snickered as they started to blush. 

Lance held up the basket of skin care products. “But I brought the face masks!”

“Imagine how bad it would have been if you had forgotten them!” Pidge laughed, Hunk joining in at Lance and Keith’s expense. 

“Trust me, they get up to much worse in the future. This is nothing,” Celeste added, everyone bellowing in laughter except for Keith and Lance. They settled on sharing a embarrassed look between themselves, Lance giggling at the promise of their future antics.


	8. gone but never forgotten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First kisses and video games!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting so close to the end!! Ahh! I'm not gonna lie, i'm pretty sad that this is ending soon. I've been working on this for a solid half of summer, it'll be weird not having to edit/write everyday. :(

Keith woke up slowly, scrunching his face as Lance continued to press sloppy pecks of kisses all over his face. Lance giggled when Keith swatted him and backed off. “Hello?” He mumbled, stretching his arm above his head and accidentally hitting the wall by his head. He groaned when he hit his arm, letting out a defeated, “Why is life so hard?” Lance simply chuckled, laying back on his own pillow instead of hovering over Keith. He wanted to give Keith his space when he was waking up. 

“Was there something on my face?” Keith asked, finally opening his eyes for the first time that morning. 

“Just my lips,” Lance answered, trying to hide his smile at how cute Keith was in the early morning. Lance wanted this sight for the rest of his life.

Keith hummed, closing his eyes again and smushing his face into his pillow. “Were you tryin’ to eat my face or something?” 

Lance grinned, unable to believe that Keith was this cute. The person who he used to think was grumpy and constantly pissed off, Keith, was in his bed, confused by face kisses. “I promise that I wasn’t trying to eat your face.”

Keith cracked his visible eye open. “That’s good.”

“Yeah,” Lance agreed. “Good morning, by the way.”

“Morning,” Keith said back, sighing as he closed his eyes again. Lance had always thought that Keith would be one of those people that would wake up in a start, like Hunk. Once Hunk was awake there was no going back. Lance was the complete opposite of that, and apparently, so was Keith. It was sweet. Lance felt honored to get to see this side of Keith, something he never thought would happen.

“Thirty minutes until breakfast, by the way,” Lance told him, wanting to make sure he knew how long he had until he was expected to talk to and see other people. Keith groaned again, this time pushing himself up into a sitting position. 

“I don’t know why I’m still so tired,” Keith said through a yawn, covering his mouth with his palm. “We haven’t had any missions or anything.”

“We’ve had a lot of stuff going on,” Lance recalled, sitting up himself. “A teenage girl showing up from the future and revealing that she’s our daughter took a bit of a toll on me, personally. Don’t get me wrong, I am really glad that we got to meet her and stuff. But I am drained.” 

“That’s probably it,” Keith decided, yawning again. “Do you want to cuddle?” 

Lance laughed amazedly, once again surprised that this was the same Keith that was a grumpy teenager at the Garrison, the one that he had a supposed rivalry with, that was asking him if he wanted to cuddle. Even just a week ago, Lance would not have even entertained the thought of Keith cuddling with anyone, much less himself. He quickly took him up on his offer, scooting behind Keith, sitting so that Keith’s back was leaning up against his chest. 

“Do you think we get to go back to Earth in the future?” Keith hesitantly asked. 

Lance wrapped his arms around Keith’s waist, resting his chin on Keith’s shoulder. “I think we would. Celeste seemed pretty dilerbate on not mentioning it, that must mean it’s a big deal.” 

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” Keith’s thumb had started to unconsciously rub the back of Lance’s hand. “I don’t know what I’ll be doing there if we go back. Everyone will have someone to see or something to do, but not me.”

“You’re acting as if I wouldn’t kidnap you and subject you to my family,” Lance scoffed. Did Keith really think that Lance wasn’t going to make him meet his family at some point? They were going to get married someday, Keith was basically a part of the family. (Lance is saying that as if he didn’t already consider Keith a part of his family, even before they found out about their future family.) 

Keith turned his head so that he could properly look at Lance. “Seriously?” 

“Of course, if you wanted to,” Lance gave him a nervous smile. “My family would literally be all over you. And it would be worth all the teasing.” 

“Wait, what teasing?” Keith questioned, his cheeks dusted with rosy pink spots. Lance didn’t think he would ever tire of barely complimenting and him blushing. It made Lance’s heart sore, to know that he made Keith look so sweet. Seeing Keith, buff and grizzled, with pink spots on his cheeks was an honor that only few people had. Lance wanted to treasure it for as long as he could. 

But now, it was Lance that was blushing. “Uh, I may have called home to complain about you like every week? My whole family has known about you for years. Looking back on it, I totally had a crush on you. I was just dense. Although, you could argue that I’m still dense so I only just realized I liked you like that. But yeah, I will be teased.” 

Keith laughed, blushing even more. “I guess I have to come home with you know. I can’t miss that.” 

Lance didn’t think he had smiled bigger at any other point in his life. 

*

“We should hang out with Celeste more,” Keith whispered to Lance after they finished breakfast. “I feel like we’ve been neglecting her.” 

Lance looked over to where Celeste was seated, sitting by Hunk and Pidge. Ever since he had realized that he had a huge crush on Keith, he had been all caught up in him. Now that he thought of it, they had hung out with her about the same amount of times that everyone else had. She was his daughter, of course he wanted to spend more time with her, especially because she was probably going to be back in her own time soon. “You’re right. What should we do?” 

Keith shrugged and Lance was reminded that Keith was an only child, one who had been stuck in foster care for half of his life. He wouldn’t know the first casual thing to do. Lance tried to think about what he would do with his siblings. They had already been to the pool and there was no beach in sight, what else could they do? Then it struck him. “Video games! Pidge and Hunk adapted the console for the castle, right? We should do that.” 

Keith nodded, walking over to Celeste. The group’s conversation stopped, Celeste smiling at Keith and then Lance when he came to stand by Keith’s side. “We were wondering if you wanted to play video games with us. We haven’t spent as much time with you as we would’ve liked, so what do you say?” 

“Sure,” Celeste agreed, standing up and walking with them towards the game room. “Do you guys have the Virtual Reality game yet? That’s my favorite one.” 

“No, we don’t,” Lance told her. How many awesome upgrades do they get in the castle? Would they ever get a hockey table? Lance would make sure they get a hockey table at some point. “But that sounds really cool.” 

The door to the game room opened, Celeste gasping when she saw the interior. “It’s so bare. You guys must have no fun here.” 

“We have fun!” Keith defended. It sounded false, especially coming from Keith’s mouth. The team really only did train, eat, and sleep. It was encouraging that they figured out how to relax more. 

 

“No, we don’t,” Lance laughed. “You just like to train, you think its fun.” 

“There’s no foosball table! Or the trampoline! Shiro and his husband built this awesome playhouse when we were little. Now people just use it to make out in between missions since the game room is so much closer than the living quarters.” 

“That’s kind of morbid, not gonna lie,” Lance commented, wishing he could be surprised that the team uses an old kid playhouse as a hook-up spot. 

“Yeah, a tiny bit,” Celeste confirmed. “But I can’t talk since I’ve done it.” 

“Oh my god, I don’t want you to tell me this,” Keith said, palming his face. “I’m still your dad.” 

“Yeah,” Celeste admitted, smiling at Keith instead of checking out the rest of the room. “But we’re the same age right now, so you can just pretend that I’m your friend or something. Be proud of me.” 

“I’m proud of you,” Lance joked. 

Celeste chuckled, walking over to the couch that held the controllers. “And that means the world to me, thank you.” Lance and Keith joined her, sitting on either side of her.

It turned out that Keith was terrible at video games, but apparently better at them in the future. While Lance was usually upset when people beat him, he couldn’t help his chest swelling with pride as Celeste beat them at every single game and every single course. As his character died on screen, Lance glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, smiling when he saw the determined look on Celeste’s face as she raced into first place once more. Yes, he had a very happy future ahead of him. 

*

“Are we done yet?” Pidge moaned as she collapsed onto the training room floor. “I need to get back work. We need to send Celeste home at some point. We shouldn’t subject her to living out the rest of her days in this world. Plus I think that would screw up time or something.” Pidge scrunched up her eyebrows as she started to figure out how the entire timeline would work.

Allura had finally forced them into training again, claiming that it had been days since they last trained and the Galra would use that to their advantage. Everyone had groaned but gave in easily enough. Surprisingly, Celeste joined them for their training session. It was insane to see all the skill she had. Her tactics and strength made it clear that she had been training her whole life. Lance was caught between feeling proud of her and sorry that she had to live such a dangerous and demanding life. Not for the first time, Lance was caught worrying for his future family’s safety. It was one thing to put himself in danger, but a completely different thing to bring young kids into the line of fire. It was something he would definitely have to talk to Keith about. They would need a plan in action to keep everyone safe. 

“Cool down, then you can go back to work,” Shiro instructed, pretending to kick her leg as he walked by her stretched out form. 

“But eat something first! And don’t forgot to bring a water bottle!” Hunk chimed in, stretching on his yoga mat as his cool down workout. Lance and Keith were doing something similar, just more laying around then actual stretching. But it worked either way, and it got Shiro off their backs. 

“How is the project going, Pidge?” Coran asked, passing out water bottles to everyone. Celeste gratefully accepted one as she paced to cool off. 

“I honestly don’t know,” Pidge claimed, throwing her arm over her eyes for an added dramatic effect. “I feel like I’m so close to a breakthrough and then something happens and it changes my whole understanding of how time travel is supposed to work. It doesn’t help that we don’t know why the universe decided to put her here.” 

“Uh, about that,” Celeste uttered. “I think I may know why? But I’m not sure, it’s only a theory.”

“Keith loves theories. He was obsessed with Mothman and Nessie for years,” Shiro commented, unknowingly condemning Keith to relentless teasing from the entire team. Lance was definitely going to be asking him about that later. At first, Keith being a cryptid hunter wouldn’t make sense. But after giving it two seconds of thought, it totally makes sense. 

“Shiro,” Keith threatened through gritted teeth. Shiro only shrugged in response, as if he didn’t realize what he just did. But he totally did.

“We will be revisiting Keith’s conspiracy theories later on, but I really need to hear your thoughts,” Pidge decided, all her attention focused on Celeste. 

Celeste laughed before she revealing her hypothesis. “I think that I ended up here because my parents weren’t together. Lance hadn’t even realized that he was bi. That sounds like a crisis to me, because that’s literally all he talks about.” 

“That makes sense,” Allura nodded. “Similar things had happened on Altea, just never to this extent. The universe intervened when it saw fit, making sure that everyone ended up with who they were supposed to. Celeste must be here to ensure that Keith and Lance end up together.” 

Pidge nodded in thought, clearly trying to think of changes to her machine that would send Celeste back. “Wouldn’t the universe take her back then? It’s obvious that Keith and Lance are falling in love. Shouldn’t that be enough?” 

Allura shrugged. “It is hard to tell what the universe wants.” 

“Well, that’s great,” Pidge muttered sarcastically. 

“I guess we’ll just have to see what ends up happening?” Lance said, ending his stretches and placing his yoga mat back where it belonged.

Pidge hummed in agreement. “I’ll keep working on the machine though. I feel like I’m really close to figuring it out.” Lance found Keith’s gaze as Pidge said that. All of a sudden, it seemed more real. Celeste really was going to be leaving soon, one way or another. Their time with her was so limited, more than it ever had been.

“I’m going to go play some video games, does anyone want to join me?” Lance asked, addressing the entire room as everyone started to finish their cool down workouts. 

“I will,” Keith and Celeste said at the same time, Hunk agreeing right after them.

“I would like to watch, if you don’t mind,” Allura chimed in. “I fear I am not as good at playing video games as the rest of you.” 

Shiro grabbed Keith in a headlock, Keith groaning as Shiro messed up his hair. “I’ll kick my brother’s butt.” 

“You wish,” Keith retorted, trying to flip Shiro and pin him down. 

Coran chuckled at the brothers’ display. “I would like to see who wins.” 

“I would love to come and destroy all of you at Mario Kart, but I should probably work on being able to send Celeste back.” Pidge announced. Everyone supported her decision, wishing her luck with the work. 

“Can we get some lunch first?” Hunk questioned. Everyone vehemently agreed. 

“Hey, Keith,” Lance successfully got his attention. “Last person to the dining hall is a pile of rotten food goo!” He dashed out of the training room the second he finished his sentence, a sputtering Keith hot on his trail. 

*

After a tasty and nutritious meal of the food goop that they were all so tired of, the team gathered in the game room. Keith sat in the middle of the couch, squished by the people surrounding him. Shiro sat on his left side, excited to beat his brother. Lance’s legs were thrown over Keith’s lap, his upper body leaning against Celeste who sat on the end of the couch. Allura sat on the other end of the couch, a bowl of space popcorn in her lap. Hunk leaned up against the couch where Lance’s legs would have gone if they weren’t in Keith’s lap. Coran sat besides Hunk with his own bowl of space popcorn. 

“You’re going down, all of you,” Lance promised. “But especially you, Keith.” 

Keith flicked Lance’s calf, ignoring Lance’s fake whimper of pain. “Why are singling me out? I have literally never done anything to you, ever.” 

Lance scoffed. “Okay, liar.” 

“I can’t believe you just admitted to hating me,” Keith said. “Celeste, do you hear him? You side with me, right?” 

“Of course, dad,” Celeste agreed, laughing. Keith saw her freeze out of the corner of his eye, probably realizing what she had just called him. 

“I’m glad I count on you to have my back,” He smiled at her, assuring her that he was okay with it. He caught Lance’s small smile. Keith quickly looked back at the screen, knowing that he would probably die in Mario Kart if he didn’t look at the screen soon. 

“I can’t believe you would betray me like this, Celeste,” Lance whined. “I thought I was your favorite parent.” 

“Coran is my favorite parent,” Celeste teased, laughing at their reactions. 

“Atta girl!” Coran proclaimed, turning so that he could high-five her. She let herself die in the game in order to return the high five, and if that wasn’t love then Keith wasn’t sure what was. 

The next few moments were tense, as it was the final lap. It was between Lance and Celeste, everyone keeping an eye on them as their completed their own laps. They were each only seconds away from completing the lap, it looked like Lance was pulling ahead, just about to pass Celeste -

And then Keith felt a terrible lurching in his gut. He gripped his controller as he felt the castle tilt, almost as if they were flipping. 

In seconds it had all settled, as if nothing had happened. The only difference was that Celeste was gone, Lance sprawled in the exact spot that she had just been in. Keith didn’t know what to do.


	9. back to the future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Celeste goes back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is late! I had to watch a friend's kids so they could take their daughter to the ER (everyone is fine though!!). That being said, I don't now if the final chapter will be posted tomorrow or not. I have a lot to do tomorrow. But it will be posted before Wednesday, I can promise you that! Again, thank you so much to everyone who has read this, especially those who comment. It brings me so much joy to be able to recognize some of my readers!

The castle was cold. 

The hallway seemed quiet, no noise permitting from them. It was alien. Usually, the castle was bursting with noise. Twenty people living in one space meant that there was always noise. The castle felt dead, like she was intruding on something that she shouldn’t be.

It was the first thing that Celeste noticed. How could she not? She had ended up in the same place she had disappeared from, the hallway on the way to the dining room. Everything appeared the same, except she couldn’t hear anything. 

Celeste walked towards her room, feeling as if she was intruding on something.It was her home, but it felt like a different reality. Where was her family? 

Suddenly, voices echoed from somewhere deep in the castle. 

Celeste tried to zone in from where the voices were coming from, realizing they were coming from the training room. She quickly ran in that direction, hoping that her fathers and sister were there. Or at least someone was there. She was desperate to see her family again, for them to reaffirm that she was in the right place. 

“Dad! Papà! Where are you?” She yelled, trying to get their attention and find them sooner. 

“Celeste!” Her dad yelled back, hopeful excitement present in his voice. “We’re in the training room!” 

Celeste rushed into the training room, finding her family standing there with open arms. Clearly waiting for her. She tried to repress a sob as she ran into her father’s arms, hiding her face in her chest. “Oh my god, I missed you so much.” 

She felt her Papà move to stand behind her, sandwiching her in a hug. “Let me in!” She heard her sister Nova demand. Her fathers listened to her demand, opening their arms for her to cling onto Celeste. “I’m so happy you’re back.” 

“We all are,” Her papà told her, squeezing her tighter. 

“Your younger selves were kind of lame,” Celeste said. 

“Fair,” Keith shrugged, kissing the top of her head. “I’m sorry you had to hang out with our emotionally repressed selves. You deserve better.” 

“I wish I could have met them,” Nova pouted. 

“You didn’t miss much,” Celeste assured her. 

“Hey!” Lance laughed, lightly pinching her cheek. “You can’t insult our past selves too harshly. Only we can do that.” 

“To be fair, my hair was pretty bad,” Keith said, pulling away from the hug. He started to drag his family to the couch that they put in the training room after so many tiring workouts. He sat down, pulling Celeste onto his lap, letting Nova and Lance occupy the rest of the available space. 

“Yeah, why did you decide to grow it out anyways?” Celeste asked, before coming to a sudden realization. “Wait! It’s braided! That means that Papà was really sad. You really did miss me!” 

Lance scoffed, grabbing onto her shoulder. “Of course we did! You were gone for like a week and a half! You think I wouldn’t be devastated?” 

“Still, it’s nice to be reminded that I mean a lot to you guys,” Celeste said shyly, not wanting her family to realize how much such a simple thing really meant to her. She knew she was loved, love was practically seeping out of her family. But after being for so gone, her mind had room for doubt to settle in. Keith squeezed her tighter, resting his head on her shoulder. 

“Should we go find the rest of the team? I know that they all want to see you.” Lance asked. 

“Yes!” Celeste agreed, readily jumping up from her father’s lap and pulled him up by the hand before grabbing her sister’s hand, dragging her up and out the door. “Was life super boring without me?” She asked her sister. 

“No,” Nova teased. “Addy and Uncle Adam kept me busy. Addy missed you a lot, though.” 

“I’m glad to hear that,” Celeste said. Her best friend and cousin had to miss her, it was basically a rule. 

“But Uncle Shiro was all like ‘If you just named her after me, this wouldn’t have happened.’” 

“Sounds like him,” Celeste giggled. They reached the bridge, where everyone was standing in their armor. “Are you guys going on a mission?” 

“Celeste!” Hunk said excitedly, dropping whatever he was in the middle of to hug her. “You’re back! How was the past?” 

“It was fun,” She admitted, hugging him tightly. “I have so much blackmail.” 

“We should’ve known that you would use something as revolutarinary as time travel for blackmail,” Pidge teased, hugging her right after Hunk let her go. 

Celeste laughed, hugging her back. “I’ll only use it if I have to, promise.” 

“Come hug me!” Addy demanded, opening her arms. Celeste eagerly crashed into her arms, throwing Addy slightly off balance. “I’m so glad you’re back! I was the oldest kid by years, I needed you back to be my buffer.” 

“That’s the only reason you missed me?” Celeste pretended to pout. 

Addy laughed, releasing Celeste. “And I missed your jokes and your hugs.” 

Celeste grinned up at her. “I missed you, too.” 

“What about me?” Her Uncle Shiro asked, coming to stand next to his eldest daughter. 

“Nah,” Celeste said, a shit-eating grin present on her face. “Younger you was cooler.” 

“Not true!” Her papà interjected. “That man ages like fine wine! And so does his husband!” 

“Thank you, Lance,” Adam laughed, blushing slightly. He had never gotten used to her Papà’s flirty teasing, or any teasing, really. It was cute, and the whole team was dedicated to making him blush in whichever way possible. 

“I was just kidding,” Celeste admitted, hugging her uncle. “I missed all of you.” Adam came to join the hug with Shiro, kissing her gently on the head before letting Coran hug her. 

“My favorite has returned!” Coran exclaimed, making Celeste giggle. He may claim that all of them were his favorite, but it was still a sweet sentiment nonetheless. 

“Oh! You missed the exciting news!” Keith said. “We’re heading back to Earth for a few weeks, you’ll be able to see your girlfriend again.” Celeste cheered before Allura got her attention.

Allura spoke to her from the navigational center of the bridge, unable to hug her because she was busy steering the ship. “It’s a pleasure to have you here again, Celeste.” 

“It’s a pleasure to be back,” Celeste said, smiling as she glanced at each of her family members.


	10. the resolution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The paladins adjust to life without Celeste.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can barely believe that this the ending. School starts for me tomorrow, so I finished this in just the nick of time. Again, thank you to every single person who read, left kudos, or commented. It means so much to me! 
> 
> tumblr: vld-pilots

“Pidge!” Lance let out a blood-curdling screech as he looked at the empty spot where Celeste had been sitting only moments before. “Get in here, quick!”

“What?” Pidge replied, rushing into the gaming room, her glasses askew on her face. It was obvious that she thought that it was an emergency. It was, in a way. Nobody was dying, but it almost felt like someone was. Celeste was gone, never coming back. 

“Celeste is gone!” The rest of the team remained painfully quiet, unsure of how to react. They had all known that it would happen, they just hadn’t expected it to be so soon. She really wouldn’t come back, she wouldn’t be here anymore. Keith tried to ignore how his eyes unexpectedly filled with tears. He hadn’t been prepared for her to leave, he had been trying to push off dealing with it. He didn’t want to face the reality where she didn’t exist yet. Even after knowing her for only a week and a half, Celeste had made a way into Keith’s life. Life would seem too empty without her. 

“Is that what that was?” Pidge pondered, referencing the flip that had happened only moments ago. Keith nodded. “At least she’s back with her family.” 

“We’re her family, too!” Lance reminded her. “But I know what you mean.” 

“Well, what do we do now?” Hunk asked, staring sadly at the controller in his hands.

Keith shrugged, looking to Lance for guidance. He didn’t know either. 

*

Keith ended up training. It was familiar, it was helpful, and it was all he could barely focus on at the moment. 

He grunted as the bot swung at him again, side-stepping slightly too late. The bot’s staff slightly nicked his side. Keith retaliated by using his last reserve of energy to strike the training bot’s head, sending it scattering across the training room floor. 

“End training sequence,” Came an unwavering voice. 

“Come on,” Keith groaned, turning towards the voice. He found Lance, wearing his comfiest sweatpants, the ones he always wore when he wasn’t feeling good. There had been many times that Keith had seen Lance wandering around the castle in those pants, usually humming a sad song under his breath. Usually, he was homesick. But Keith knew that that wasn’t it this time, and he didn’t want to talk about it. Keith pointedly ignored his eyes, afraid Lance would see how upset he really was. “I was just getting fired up.” 

“Fired up?” Lance repeated, scoffing. “Babe, you look like you’re about to collapse. Just take a break.” 

“I don’t want to,” Keith said gruffly, unwavering in his stance. 

Lance sighed, walking towards Keith. “It’s not healthy to ignore your emotions, Keith. You can’t bottle them up.” 

“I’m not bottling them up,” Keith refuted. “I’m training.” 

“But you’re not talking to anyone, you’re just hitting things,” Lance persisted. “We’re all feeling what you’re feeling. You don’t have to talk to me, just talk to someone.” 

“But I don’t want to.” 

“Keith, you’re worrying me. I know this is your normal way of dealing with things, but this isn’t a normal situation. Communication wouldn’t kill you.” 

“I don’t want to admit that she’s gone,” Keith admitted, making eye contact with Lance for the first time. “It makes it more permanent.” 

Lance hummed sympathetically, extending his arms as he moved forward. Keith gratefully accepted the hug, wrapping his own arms around Lance as he drew him closer. “I know. She was only here for about a week, but it all seems so weird without her.” 

“Exactly!” Keith said, sniffling as he hid his face in Lance’s shoulder. “I don’t know how to adjust back to life. It won’t ever be normal again.” 

Lance’s arms tightened around him, Keith sighing contentedly. “We’ll get used to it. But I gotta admit, I’m kind of glad things aren’t completely returning to normal.” 

Keith pulled back, noticing the fond expression on Lance’s face. “Yeah, me too. Think of how oblivious we would still be if she never ended up here.”

“I think that was the whole point, Keith,” Lance laughed, tugging on Keith’s hand as he pulled him out of the training room. 

“Fair,” Keith said, letting himself be dragged to wherever Lance wanted to take him. Maybe talking did really help. He already felt much better than he usually would after hours of practice, he would have to try this more often. Something told him that Lance would be more than happy to listen, no matter the subject. 

*

Dinner that night was tense. Nobody really knew what to say. Everyone was processing the loss in a different way. Keith knew that nobody had died, but it felt like it. They were mostly silent, all collectively missing the noise that once filled the dining hall, the silence deafening. 

*

After dinner, the team member each wasted the few hours before bed in their own ways. Hunk ended up baking, the sweet aroma of cookies wafting through the air. It was the same recipe that he had made with Celeste only a few days prior. Lance had never eaten a sadder cookie in his life. 

Allura went over her battle tactics, something she did whenever she couldn’t focus. For some reason, her solution to almost anything was to study. It was almost like Keith with training, except this had less chance of extensively draining her. Plus, she exercised stronger self-preservation than Keith. Lance wasn’t as worried when she was studying than he was while Keith was training excessively. 

Shiro read, as he almost always was. Keith had once explained to him that Shiro picked up the habit from Adam. Adam had always found it soothing to disappear into another world, his beliefs eventually rubbing off on Shiro. He read to remember Adam, and he read to forget the struggles of his current reality. Lance could under the desire to leave his current thoughts.

Pidge was napping. Lance was glad to see her curled up on the couch, as Pidge rarely slept. The past few days had been rough on her as she worked on sending Celeste home, which ended up being unneeded. Lance peeked into the common room, pulling her shoes off and covering her with a blanket before turning her lights off, allowing her to sleep more comfortably. 

Coran compulsively cleaned the medical bay. Lance knew it was partly a nervous habit, Coran was always afraid of one of them needing the pods but being unable to use them. He spent a majority of his free time making sure that the equipment and supplies were all clean and working. Lance didn’t know how they would survive without Coran. He was the true space dad, if you asked him. But he acted as more of a space uncle than anything. Lance silently joined Coran, picking up a cleaning rag and starting to wipe down the other healing pod. He received a quiet, thankful smile in response. 

Lance honestly had no idea what Keith was getting up to. But he knew he wasn’t in the training room. Keith had promised to not train anymore today, and Lance trusted him. He would probably see Keith again at some point tonight, if they planned on sleeping together still, even though they didn’t have to. Celeste was gone, Keith could go back to his bed. But Lance didn’t really want him to. 

It had become comforting to have someone in bed with him every night, to have someone there when he woke up from his most recent nightmare. To have someone to cherish, to hold. It was no secret that Lance was overly affectionate. Finally having someone to be affectionate with was great, it was something that Lance adjusted to, much too quickly. Now, he was dreading Keith’s eventual departure. But it was simply something that Lance would have to accept. He wasn’t going to guilt Keith into staying, that would be wrong. He would have to remember what it was like to be alone. At least for a little while. 

*

Night came faster than anyone expected. All too soon, Lance was washing the cleaning supplies from his hands and heading towards his room. He didn’t bother to stop at Keith’s room, not wanting to disturb his bedtime routine, if he really had one. His bedtime routine was nothing compared to Lance’s. 

Lance opened his door, rubbing the lingering sleep from his eyes. Eager to go to sleep, Lance headed for his bathroom. However, he quickly stopped in his tracks. There, laying in his bed, was Keith’s sleeping figure. Lance smiled to himself, not wanting to admit how much the simple gesture really meant to him. He tried to keep himself from making any noise as he processed what this really meant - Keith came to sleep! In his room! Without any prompting! - and walked to the bathroom. 

His life would be fine. Lance had so much to look forward to, getting to grow old with Keith, and eventually the rest of his family. 

In the end, things would be alright. Even if it took a while to adjust to life without Celeste.


End file.
